The Elite Eight
by Crazy Packers Fan
Summary: Team Rocket returns to power, with a plan that effects all regions of the Pokemon world. Only eight trainers are initially willing to fight against them. Will their effort be enough to stop Team Rocket?
1. He Ain't Weak, He's My Brother

A/N: This is the third in my series of Pokémon fanfics, following "Love, War and Games" and "Mystery, Murder and Mayhem." If you haven't read either one, here are the ages and some information on the main characters:

Giselle: 18, Pokémon League champion, leaving in an apartment at Indigo Plateau.

Joe: 18, In the advanced class at Pokémon Tech.

Sabrina: 20, Mentoring Liza as a psychic at her home in Saffron City.

Will: 20, Working at the new Silph Company in Saffron City.

Liza: 14, Training under Sabrina in Saffron City.

Silver: 20, Helping out at Jasmine's gym in Olivine City.

Jasmine: 20, Taking care of the lighthouse in Olivine City.

Whitney: 18, In charge of her gym in Goldenrod City.

Gold: 18, In charge of the late Pryce's former gym in Mahogany Town.

Giovanni?, In the Olivine City jail.

Chapter 1

He Ain't Weak, He's My Brother

Sabrina, Will and Liza were eating dinner at Sabrina's house, as they did every night. Both Sabrina and Will noticed the usually talkative Liza was silent. Both of them started trying to read her thoughts, which Liza blocked from them.

"Why are you trying to read my mind?" Liza asked.

"Something's obviously bothering you, Liza," Sabrina replied. "What is it?"

"It's… nothing," Liza responded.

"It's stupid to lie to psychics," Will said. "Tell us the truth."

"Oh, all right, something is bothering me," Liza admitted. "It's my brother, Tate."

"What's the matter?" Sabrina asked.

"He's in some sort of trouble," Liza replied. "I don't know what it is, and I'm almost scared to find out."

"You've got to go help him," Sabrina said.

"I don't want to give up training here," Liza said. "My goal is to become a great psychic, not just a co-gym leader."

"Your brother is more important than your psychic powers," Sabrina stated. "I've taught you much already… all you really need to do is catch new psychic Pokémon and raise them well, and you will be very hard to defeat."

"I've been planning on that…" Liza replied, sighing. "I guess I am very worried about Tate. I have to go back to Mossdeep City."

"Take care," Sabrina said.

"I will," Liza responded, teleporting away.

As Liza disappeared from Sabrina and Will's sight, Sabrina looked down at the table, sighing.

"What is it, Sabrina?" Will asked.

"I've got a premonition about this…" Sabrina said.

----------

Joe came back to his dorm room from his classes. He noticed that there was a message waiting for him on his videophone. He pressed a button to play the message, seeing Giselle come up on the screen.

"Hi, Joe," Giselle said. "I know your spring break is coming up soon, and I of course am inviting you here to Indigo Plateau. When you come here, wear your best suit, and you'll be shown where to meet me. I can't wait to see you!"

Giselle blew a kiss at the screen, and the message ended.

_I wonder why Giselle wants me to dress up?_ Joe thought. _Oh, well, I can't wait to see her… only a couple more days to go._

Joe went to his classes the next day in total distraction, just daydreaming of seeing Giselle in person again. It had been so long since he had last seen her in person, since he had last touched her soft, smooth skin, since he had last run his hand through her long black hair…

"Joe!"

Joe looked up at his teacher in confusion. "Yes, Roxanne?" he asked.

"What are you thinking about?" Roxanne snapped. "Or, should I say, who are you thinking about?"

Joe blushed. His classmates started to chuckle.

"I'm sorry," Joe murmured.

"Now tell me, what was I just talking about?" Roxanne questioned.

"Cubone and its evolutions?" Joe guessed.

"No," Roxanne replied. "I know spring break is coming up soon, but that doesn't mean you can just take off the next two days. Now pay attention!"

"I will," Joe responded.

However, Joe continued to lose focus in his classes. He was too distracted by the thought of getting to see Giselle in person again.

----------

Silver was in the Olivine City gym, watching Jasmine battle a challenger. The challenger was a boy named Youngster who had no chance in the battle. After Jasmine's Steelix wiped out Youngster's Pokémon in rapid succession, she asked to see his badges.

"I've been traveling all over, trying to win some badges," Youngster said. "I knew I shouldn't have come here."

"Oh, don't talk like that," Jasmine replied. "You're not that bad of a trainer."

Jasmine noticed that some of Youngster's badges were not from Johto gyms.

"H-have you been to Kanto?" the shy Jasmine asked him.

"Yes," Youngster replied. "This badge is from the Cerulean gym, this one is from Pewter, and this one here is from Fuchsia."

"Okay, okay," Silver said. "That's enough from you, kid. You can go now."

"Don't be rude, Silver," Jasmine scolded. "It's not polite to treat my challengers badly."

"Silver?" Youngster questioned. "Is that your name?"

"Yes, it is," Silver stated. "What does that mean to you?"

"That's interesting," Youngster responded. "The gym leader at Fuchsia City mentioned something about a guy named Silver."

"Oh, really?" Silver said. "What did this gym leader say?"

"The gym leader there, Janine, mentioned that her father was killed by Silver's father, and that she plans on getting revenge on both Silver and his father," Youngster replied.

"She's still mad at me," Silver muttered. "I don't understand it."

"Relax," Jasmine said to Silver. "She can't do anything to you."

"I hope not," Silver replied.

Youngster walked out of the gym, leaving Silver and Jasmine alone.

"You know, you really don't have to worry about what your father has done," Jasmine said to Silver. "I know you still are trying to carry his burden, and you need to drop it."

"My father has hurt countless people, and I'm the one who people are blaming," Silver responded. "People hear that I'm his son, and they have something against me. It's not fair."

"Don't let them bother you," Jasmine said to Silver. She kissed him gently on the cheek.

----------

Liza arrived at her gym. She wasted no time in entering the gym, trying to see her brother. She then saw him talking with someone, and she immediately could tell the conversation was not going well.

"What's the matter here?" Liza asked, walking up to the man who was talking with Tate.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Liza, the so-called gym leader who hasn't been doing her job much lately," the man replied.

"Liza, this is Steven, the Hoenn League Champion," Tate said. "I've lost all ten matches since you left, and because of my poor performance, he wants to take away my gym leader status."

"You can't do that!" Liza shouted.

"Actually, I can," Steven replied. "I'm the champion of this league… I can do whatever I want."

"What if I begin double battling with my brother again?" Liza asked.

"If you so please…" Steven answered. "You'll get a chance to keep your gym leadership, right here, right now! Beat me, and you stay as gym leaders, but lose, and I take this gym away from you!"

"Very well," Liza said with a smile.

_You don't worry about a thing,_ Liza telepathically said to Tate. _I've got everything under control._

"Go, Lunatone!" Liza shouted, throwing out her Poké Ball.

"Solrock, go!" Tate said, sending out his Solrock.

"Interesting," Steven remarked. "Go, Metagross and Metang!"

_We're hopeless,_ Tate telepathically said to Liza. _Our Psychic attacks will do very little against those Steel-types._

_Relax,_ Liza replied. _There's no need to attack. Just let your Solrock listen to me._

_Okay, _Tate responded. _Solrock, you obey Liza._

"Both of you, charge them!" Steven yelled.

Both of Steven's Pokemon charged at Solrock and Lunatone at full-force. Tate looked at Liza nervously as they came near, but at the last second, both of their Pokémon disappeared from Steven's sight. Metagross and Metang went crashing into the wall.

"Are you using some sort of psychic trick?" Steven asked. "Your Pokémon aren't allowed to leave the building!"

"Look behind you," Liza replied with a smirk.

Steven then saw Lunatone and Solrock floating behind him. "How did you do that?" Steven asked.

"If I told you, wouldn't that ruin the surprise?" Liza answered smartly.

The angry Steven called for his Pokémon to charge back at Lunatone and Solrock. Instead, they began attacking each other, and eventually Metang was knocked out.

"What's going on?" Steven questioned.

_Liza, I don't know what you're doing, but I like it,_ Tate said psychically to Liza.

Metagross then was suddenly thrown into the wall by an invisible force. It fell over, knocked out cold.

"This is ridiculous!" Steven screamed, having his Pokémon return to their Poké Balls. "Psychic attacks aren't strong against Steel-types! You cheated!"

"What's so ridiculous about using my psychic powers to my advantage?" Liza asked. "If you think you're such a great trainer-"

"I'm the Hoenn League Champion!" Steven interjected.

"Yes, but you're no psychic," Liza responded. "I've learned a lot from Sabrina, the Saffron City gym leader, who has helped me learn how to control Psychic Pokémon in ways I never knew before. Now that I've returned, Tate and I will not lose any more battles to challengers."

Steven groaned. "Fine," he said. "If you stay here, Liza, I'll allow you two to keep your gym leader status. I guess your training did pay off."

Steven walked out of the gym, embarrassed. What was a league champion like him doing losing to a couple of young twins? Nevertheless, he realized he had more important business to take care of at the Pokémon League, as he returned to Ever Grande City.

----------

Joe's spring break was finally here, and he took a bus to Indigo Plateau. He was wearing a suit, as Giselle had requested in her message. Upon arriving at the Pokémon League headquarters, a man walked over to him.

"Are you Joe?" the man asked.

"Yes, I am," Joe responded.

"Come this way," the man replied.

Joe followed the man to a door, which the man opened for him. Joe stepped through, and the man closed the door behind him. He was now inside a very large room, but there was no one else in the room. He looked around in confusion.

"It looks like someone's too early, as usual," a voice said.

Joe watched as Giselle walked into the room through a different doorway. She was wearing the most beautiful black dress he had ever seen. She looked more gorgeous to him than ever before.

"Wow…" Joe said, nearly breathless.

"I know, I know," Giselle replied with a smile. She walked over to Joe and embraced him.

"It's so good to see you," Joe said happily.

"You too," Giselle responded.

"You look so beautiful," Joe said.

"Have I ever not looked beautiful?" Giselle teased. She walked over and pressed a button on a nearby machine, which began to play classical music.

"I was hoping to dance with you," she said to Joe.

"I'd love to," Joe replied.

Giselle and Joe danced together, sharing a romantic moment for what seemed like years to both of them. Joe felt privileged to be with such a beautiful girl, while Giselle was pleased to have someone who accepted her for who she was. Eventually, Giselle paused, looking right into Joe's eyes.

"I know you think of me as special," Giselle said.

"More than that," Joe replied.

"I think the same of you," Giselle whispered.

The two lovers pressed their lips together, enjoying a long, passionate kiss. Both of them felt a rush of emotion like they had never felt before. Once the kiss was over, they looked at each other again, laughing.

"Is this how you were hoping to spend your spring break?" Giselle asked playfully.

"I couldn't think of anything better," Joe answered.

----------

At the Olivine City prison, Officer Jenny went to check on Giovanni, who had been jailed after confessing to committing a murder of an Olivine City citizen. Being in charge of the Olivine police station, she used her authority to stop the other police officers from checking on Giovanni. They thought this was because Giovanni was extremely dangerous; however, the real reason was because of this particular Jenny's corruption.

This Jenny had been in charge of Saffron City's police forces when Team Rocket inhabited the Silph Company building. Team Rocket was forced out when Sabrina turned on her former boss, and eventually Team Rocket executives Lt. Surge and Blaine were arrested and brought to trial. However, Lt. Surge flirted with Officer Jenny, who then helped him and Blaine be released due to "lack of evidence." Officer Jenny was then reassigned to Olivine City, where she continued to attempt to help Team Rocket.

Both Blaine and Giovanni had been jailed in Olivine City for committing crimes, but neither was living the life of a prisoner. Both were in special "cells" away from the other prisoners, which were really apartments, where Giovanni was plotting a massive plan for Team Rocket's rebirth. Officer Jenny frequently checked in on him so she could inform Lt. Surge of his plans.

"Is everything okay, boss?" Officer Jenny asked.

"Yes," Giovanni answered. "In fact, everything is going better than planned."

"What do you mean?" Officer Jenny asked. "How is that possible? I thought it was great that we were setting up a new hideout in Celadon…"

"Would you believe me if I told you that the majority of the gym leaders here in Johto are now sided with Team Rocket?" Giovanni asked Jenny.

"Impossible," Officer Jenny responded.

"It's true," Giovanni said. "By calling up those five gym leaders in Johto I chose, and offering them a choice of a high salary or death, all five chose to join Team Rocket. And if they had any doubts of my seriousness, I had Team Rocket grunts appear at their gyms, in order to convince them further."

"Which five?" Jenny asked.

"All but those pure-hearted ones," Giovanni responded. "All but Gold, the redhead, and that shy one."

"Excellent," Jenny said.

"And that's not the end of it," Giovanni added. "Some important trainers in Hoenn have turned to our side as well."

"You've got to be kidding," Jenny said. "You're brilliant."

"Yes, yes, I know," Giovanni laughed.

"When does our operation begin?" Jenny asked. "Surge wants to know."

"Tell him that it will start soon, but not quite yet," Giovanni replied. "There is still one more missing piece of the puzzle."


	2. All You Wanted

Chapter 2

All You Wanted

The next day, Joe and Giselle were enjoying a meal at the Pokémon League headquarters. While Joe marveled at the high-class service that Giselle received, she acted as if it was nothing unusual.

"This is amazing," Joe said to Giselle. "You have pretty much everything you want here."

"Almost everything," Giselle responded, hinting at the fact that Joe was still at Pokémon Tech, but Joe missed her hint.

"What do you have to do as the champion of the Pokémon League?" Joe asked.

"Oh, well, I have to keep those Elite from tearing the place down," Giselle joked. "No, seriously, there isn't much to do. Sure, I battle from time to time against some challengers, winning every time. But otherwise, there haven't been any problems since the bombing of Mahogany Town several weeks ago. If there was something big that happened, I'd have to make an important decision, and of course it would be the right one, but that situation hasn't come up."

Joe rolled his eyes as Giselle did her usual bragging. It only took Giselle reaching out her right hand and grasping his in order for him to forget about her attitude.

"You know, Joe, once you graduate from Pokémon Tech, I could find a place for you to live here, and not just something small like that hotel room you stayed in last night," Giselle said. "I'd love for you to be with me more often."

"You wouldn't, uh, want to, um-" Joe began.

"Wouldn't want to what, Joe?" Giselle asked, looking perplexed. "What's wrong with my idea?"

"Well, I was just thinking… oh, forget it," Joe said.

"No, I must know," Giselle said, letting go of Joe's hand. "You've got to tell me."

"I just thought that maybe if we traveled somewhere, we could get our Pokémon stronger, and maybe-"

Joe was cut off by an indignant Giselle. "You think my Pokémon aren't strong enough?" she asked with a bit of irritation. "You think the Pokémon League Champion, who cruised to her first of many championships, needs to get stronger? You think I'm weak? Want to battle and find out if I'm strong enough?"

"I didn't mean that, Giselle-"

"You better not have!" Giselle responded. "I realize you want to become stronger, but isn't that what Pokémon Tech is for?"

"I guess so," Joe sighed. "I'm sorry for mentioning it."

Giselle looked at the downcast Joe sympathetically. "No," she said. "I'm sorry, Joe. I shouldn't try to control your life. If you want to do something like that, I'm open to it."

"Really?" asked Joe.

"Yes," Giselle replied. "Our relationship isn't all about me, after all."

Joe looked at Giselle with a bit of shock. Was Giselle really saying something unselfish? Was she actually implying that she was not the most important person in the world?

"Of course, it would just make my second league championship easier if I were to become any stronger, if that is even possible," Giselle laughed.

_I guess some things will never change,_ Joe thought. _She's always going to be arrogant, but I still love her._

Giselle and Joe were then interrupted by an employee at the Pokémon League headquarters who came over to their table.

"Yes?" Giselle asked.

"Giselle, we have a visitor who wants to talk to you," the employee said.

"Tell him to go away," Giselle replied. "Can't you see I'm busy here?"

"He says it's really important," the employee said. "If not, I'll have to direct him to the Elite-"

"No!" Giselle interrupted the employee. "I'm not letting those four run things around here. They'll do something stupid, because they aren't as smart as I am. Excuse me, Joe, I have to take care of some business."

"It's fine, Giselle," Joe said.

_If the Elite are doing this just to bother me, I'm going to be furious,_ Giselle thought as she followed the employee out of the room.

----------

Jasmine ran to her door, hearing the sound of knocking. She opened it happily, seeing Silver standing there, as she expected.

"Good afternoon, Jasmine," Silver greeted her.

"Same to you," Jasmine responded.

Silver followed Jasmine inside, where they sat down together on a couch. Jasmine then saw Silver had something in his hands.

"What is it?" she asked him.

"I saw this was in your mailbox," Silver answered, pulling out a letter from the Pokémon League.

"Oh, you know I don't care about that," Jasmine said, as Silver opened the envelope and pulled out a piece of paper.

"Yes! I told you this would happen!" Silver said. "Look who's #1!"

Jasmine sighed. The Pokémon League sent out quarterly reports to the Johto gym leaders, which ranked them 1 through 8, according to their statistics in gym battles as well as their performance in the league tournament. Silver had been predicting to her for weeks that she would be ranked #1 of Johto's gym leaders, which she was. The humble Jasmine took no pride in this, however; it made no difference what she was ranked.

"Aren't you happy about this?" Silver asked Jasmine. "You're now considered the best gym leader in Johto!"

Jasmine sighed again. "First of all," she replied, "Pryce was killed, and I wouldn't be ranked above him had he still been alive. And besides that, my goal is just to be the best that I can be; I don't care about being ranked high."

"Oh, come on," Silver said. "You ought to be celebrating over this! Being the top-ranked gym leader is something else, especially considering you passed Clair."

Jasmine looked closer at the piece of paper, seeing the Johto gym leader rankings, which went as follows:

1. Jasmine

2. Clair

3. Gold

4. Whitney

5. Morty

6. Chuck

7. Falkner

8. Bugsy

"Your top-eight finish in the Pokémon League tournament put you over even Clair," Silver explained. "And you know how good she is."

"I still think she's the best gym leader in this region," Jasmine responded. "I'm just glad the Pokémon League is pleased with my performance."

"Pleased? They're thrilled!" Silver replied. "Come on, Jasmine, you've got to be excited about this! Although, I have to wonder… how did Gold get ranked so high after such a short time as gym leader?"

Jasmine sighed once more. Not only was Silver incredibly competitive, he also was a bit over-supportive of her, meaning that he wanted her to gain more and more recognition, while she simply wanted to do her jobs as a gym leader and as a lighthouse keeper. Yet there was something she still could not explain about him, something about his presence that would calm and reassure her. She could not understand it, but for whatever reason, she would open up to Silver, but to no one else. And it was nonsensical, when she really thought about it; after all, Silver was a former thief who had lived a rogue lifestyle before meeting her.

"Come on, I'll take you out to dinner," Silver offered to Jasmine. "I know you don't want to celebrate this, but you wouldn't mind me doing something like this for you, would you?"

"No, no," Jasmine said with a slight smile. She followed him out of the house, wondering exactly what it was about Silver that made him so attractive to her.

----------

Sabrina was sitting alone in her house, when Will teleported in right next to her. She looked at him sadly.

"Liza hasn't returned," Sabrina said to him.

"Well, she did use to have a life in Hoenn," Will responded. "I mean, she's probably just living the way she used to. You weren't planning on her living here forever, were you?"

"No, that's not it," Sabrina said. "If Liza was planning on staying in Hoenn for good, she could have teleported back here to tell me."

"Maybe she forgot," Will supposed. "Or maybe she's having trouble teleporting- I mean, even I didn't know how to teleport until recently."

"No," Sabrina replied. "That can't be it. I feel something bad has occurred to her, and I think we need to do something about it."

Will looked at Sabrina with a bit of anxiety. "You do realize that the last time you got us involved in one of these situations, we were trying to solve some murder mystery, which nearly caused us a lot of trouble?" he said.

"Will, as a psychic, there's more that we can do besides read other people's minds," Sabrina replied. "Sure, it's a nice perk, like the fact that I know exactly what you're thinking about right now."

Will looked embarrassed as Sabrina gave him a cold stare. "All you came here to do is try to kiss me," she said angrily. "Sometimes I wonder how much you really do care about me as a person."

"Oh, I honestly do care about you, you can read my mind and know that's true," Will said frantically. "I'm sorry, Sabrina."

"Go away," Sabrina stated coldly. "We'll talk again tomorrow."

Will stared at the ground in sadness, then slowly teleported away.

_I really do love her,_ Will thought as he arrived back at his house. _Why does she have to be so cold towards me? I can't help the fact she's so beautiful._

_Will has got to get his priorities straight,_ Sabrina thought. _I know he's so attracted to me, but he's going to have to keep himself under control._

----------

The Pokémon League employee led Giselle to a room where a man was waiting to talk to her. Giselle and the man sat down, and the employee exited the room.

"So, what is this all about?" Giselle questioned. "I'm pretty busy right now."

"My name is Cyrus," the man told Giselle. "I am a scientist who would like do some research on the Pokémon of the faraway land of Sinnoh."

"So what?" Giselle snapped. "This isn't a science center; it's the headquarters of a league for Pokémon battling! I couldn't care less about your research!"

"Miss- I'm sorry, what is your name?" Cyrus asked Giselle.

"I'm the Pokémon League champion! You should know my name!" Giselle retorted.

"I'm sorry-"

"You better be!" Giselle then saw that Cyrus looked sincere in his apology, and she sighed heavily. "It's Giselle."

"Miss Giselle," Cyrus said, "the Pokémon League offers to sponsor several people per year who are willing to do research on Pokémon. Since no scientist has yet gone to Sinnoh from Kanto, I thought your league would be incredibly willing to sponsor my mission."

Giselle stared at Cyrus with annoyance for a minute. She then stood up.

"Maybe the Pokémon League used to waste its money on pointless missions such as yours in the past, but under my watch, it won't!" Giselle shouted at the stunned Cyrus. She stomped out of the room in a fury.

_Unbelievable,_ Cyrus thought. _Wasn't this girl supposed to be naïve?_

----------

Giovanni sat in his "prison cell," receiving a call from one of his employees. He relaxed on his recliner while using his laptop computer to look at various locations around the Pokémon world.

"Yes?" Giovanni answered the phone. His face turned red when hearing the response on the other side of the line.

"What?!" he screamed. "I told you not to start the operation until I said so!"

"I'm sorry," the voice on the other side of the line replied. "I thought the time was right."

"You idiot!" Giovanni yelled. "Of all the people to kidnap, why them?"

"They seemed to be a genuine threat to us," the voice responded.

"There's someone else who's going to get involved because you did this, someone very powerful," Giovanni explained. "And are you sure they're even still in your custody?"

"Absolutely," the voice answered. "I have psychic Pokémon guarding them, so they can't escape."

"You better hope not," Giovanni told the employee.

"Relax, boss," the employee told Giovanni. "Just trust me. I'll have all of Hoenn under Rocket control in little time."

"I hope so… Steven," Giovanni replied before hanging up.


	3. We're Not Gonna Take It

Chapter 3

We're Not Gonna Take It

It was evening at Indigo Plateau, where Giselle and Joe sat in a lounge watching television. In reality, they were not spending that much time watching the TV set as they were talking to each other. Giselle then heard a familiar voice call her name, and in an angry tone of voice.

"Lance?" she responded to him.

"Why didn't you give that scientist our support?" Lance asked her. "The Pokémon League sponsors several scientists per year to research places we don't know much about. How else do you think we know so much about the Pokémon of Hoenn?"

"It's a waste of money," Giselle replied.

"Waste of money? I'll tell you what's a waste of money!" Lance yelled. "You and everything you do around here! You live a life of luxury… no, a life of excess! Do you realize how much it costs to pay all the butlers that serve your meals?"

"I'm the Pokémon League champion," Giselle answered. "I get what I want. If you were a little better at battling, maybe you'd be in my place."

Lance's face turned red. "That's it! I've had it with you!" he screamed. "I've tried my best to get along with you, but you apparently want to rub it in my face that you won that tournament. I'm through with trying to talk reasonably to you!"

"See you!" Giselle said with a smile.

Lance stomped off in a fury. Joe stared at Giselle in amazement while she laughed.

"Uh, Giselle-"

"Isn't he a riot?" Giselle laughed. "He thinks he's something because he's a former champion, but guess who's the champion now?"

"Giselle, shouldn't you-"

"You know, I wonder why he even bothers me," Giselle continued. "I don't get why he thinks he can order me around."

"Giselle!" Joe interrupted her. "Shouldn't you be trying to get along with the Elite? I mean, isn't that part of your job?"

"That's their job, to get along with me," Giselle replied. "If they don't want to, then that's too bad."

Giselle and Joe then looked over to see Bruno and Karen marching towards them.

"Giselle, we have an emergency meeting of the Elite, and you must attend," Bruno told her.

"Your boyfriend can't attend, either," Karen said.

"Excuse me, Joe, this Pokémon League apparently can't survive without me," Giselle told him while getting up to follow Bruno and Karen.

----------

Jasmine and Silver returned to her house. Silver was ready to kiss Jasmine goodnight when she brought up something.

"Um, Silver, have you heard from Whitney or Gold lately?" Jasmine asked him.

"No," Silver answered, looking at Jasmine with confusion. "Why?"

"They are our friends, and you are sort of related to Gold," Jasmine said, seeing Silver look disgusted when she mentioned his relation to Gold. "I'd like to know how they are… I don't really like calling people, though."

"They're probably just busy," Silver replied. "I wouldn't worry about them."

"I'm sorry," Jasmine whispered. "I just get worried a lot."

"There's nothing to worry about," Silver whispered back. He then kissed her on the lips.

"Good night, Silver," Jasmine said, as she entered her house.

"Good night, Jasmine," Silver replied, walking away.

As he walked back to his house, Silver thought about some of the events of the past few months. First he met Jasmine, then found out that Giovanni was his father. After surviving a battle with Team Rocket, he finished as runner-up in the Pokémon League tournament. With the prize money, he bought a house in Olivine City, where life would be peaceful, as he would be able to visit Jasmine all the time. Or so he thought.

It was not long afterward that he was accused of a murder he did not commit. Only after Sabrina discovered Giovanni had been the one who had actually committed the murder was Silver free. He then found out that he and Gold shared the same mother, making him related to his rival. His blood still boiled over the thought of Gold being his half-brother.

_That idiot… how can I be related to him? I still don't believe it,_ Silver thought to himself.

----------

Giselle entered the meeting room with the other Elite. She sat down with a smile, not worried one bit about what they had brought her here for. She saw Cyrus sitting with the Elite members.

"Giselle, we are fed up with your behavior," Bruno said.

"You refuse to do your part in running this Pokémon League," Karen added.

"Since you have decided that you do not want to make the big decisions around here, we are going to overrule you," Lance said. "Our first plan of action is to allow Cyrus here to receive money from the Pokémon League to go ahead with his scientific studies."

"You can't overrule me," Giselle remarked. "I am the Pokémon League Champion. I run this league, whether you like it or not."

"Giselle, we have checks and balances in the Pokémon League in order to make sure one person does not become too powerful," Lorelei explained. "If the Elite Four vote in unanimity, then the Champion's decision does not matter."

"I see how it is," Giselle replied. "You four are going to gang up on me, because you don't like the fact that I'm better than you. But that's fine. Waste the Pokémon League's money if you wish. It won't be my doing."

Lance ignored Giselle's remarks. "Cyrus," he said, turning to Cyrus, "you have our permission to go on your journey to Sinnoh for your research. We will fund your project with ¥10000000."

"How are you going to come up with that?" Giselle asked smartly. "You'll have to give away your life savings, Lance."

"The money that would be spent on your personal service will instead be spent on this project," Lance responded. "You can kiss your excessive lifestyle goodbye."

"Excuse me?" Giselle replied. "You can't take away my perks for being Champion. I have rights, you know."

"Yeah, you have the right to do your job, not sit around and have everything handed to you," Lance retorted. "It's too late, Giselle. We've already voted. Cyrus, you may go."

"Thank you, sir," Cyrus said, getting up and leaving the room.

"Now, Giselle, you can eat with us, like a member of the Elite should," Bruno suggested. "Or you can choose to use your own money on your room service, because it won't be free anymore."

Giselle stood up from the table, enraged. "Fine!" she yelled. "You can take away my room service, but you can't take away my championship! And I know that's what you all really want!"

She stomped out of the room in a fury. Bruno and Karen both smirked. Lance even began laughing. Lorelei sat sadly, giving no response.

"That girl's going to learn who's in charge around here," Lance said.

----------

Around midnight, Giovanni received a phone call, getting information he wanted. He then put out calls to all his executives to set his newest plan in motion. He called Officer Jenny, as well.

"Yes, boss?" Jenny asked.

"Our operation is in full force now," Giovanni explained. "I need you to go to Vermillion City and help Lt. Surge."

"Sure thing, boss," Jenny replied.

"And before you go, allow Blaine out of his apartment- I mean, 'cell.' Have him come with you," Giovanni added.

"Okay, boss," Jenny responded.

Giovanni hung up. "Amazing how getting arrested and put in jail has made my operations more successful than ever," he said to himself.

----------

Silver was awakened early the next morning by a phone call. "Who the heck is calling at this time?" he muttered.

"Silver?" the voice on the phone said. "It's Gold."

"Figures you'd wake me up early like this," Silver answered. "What do you want?"

"Whitney and I both can't get into our gyms," Gold told Silver.

"What the heck are you trying to get into them at this hour anyway?" Silver asked.

"Whitney likes getting to her gym early in the morning, so she went there, but she found the place blocked off by a couple of guards. They refused her admission to the gym," Gold explained. "So she called me and told me to go to my gym, and there are guards there blocking the way to my gym. They won't let me in either."

"You're the gym leader!" Silver replied, flabbergasted. "That's your gym! Why wouldn't they let you in?"

"Hey, I told them," Gold said. "It didn't do any good. They pushed me away. They were big guards, too; I wasn't fighting them."

"Did they give you a reason?" Silver asked.

"No," Gold answered. "They just told me to leave."

"Very strange," Silver responded. "I don't know what to tell you…"

Silver then paused. If this had occurred at Goldenrod City and Mahogany Town, maybe it was going on at Jasmine's gym as well, he reasoned. "Sorry, Gold, I have to go."

"Wait!" Gold shouted. "Aren't you going to come out here to help us out? What if this is another Team Rocket scheme?"

"You're a big boy, you can handle it," Silver joked. "Now excuse me, I have some business to take care of."

Silver hung up the phone. Gold wondered why Silver suddenly had "business" to take care of after he had told him he had just awakened.

Silver, meanwhile, left his house in a rush, running out towards the gym. He checked the clock on his Pokégear, noting the time of 5:00 am, and noticing that hardly anyone was out at this time. He then neared the gym, beginning to look out for guards. Sure enough, as he approached the doors of the gym, he saw two guards standing in front of them.

"What are you doing here?" Silver asked.

"You must leave," a guard told him.

"Well, I'm not, until you tell me what you are doing here," Silver responded.

The other guard walked over to Silver. He, like the other guard, was a large and muscular man. When he saw Silver had no intent in leaving, he grabbed Silver by both arms.

"What is this?" Silver questioned. "I didn't do anything wrong! Let me go!"

"Get out of here," the guard said, pulling Silver further away from the gym.

Silver tried to pull out a Poké Ball, but the guard was holding both of his arms and preventing him from doing so.

"You're helpless," the other guard told Silver. "Either you start walking the other way, or we beat you senseless."

Silver looked at the two large guards, then made up his mind. "Okay, fine," he told them. "Just let me go, and I'll be out of here."

The guard let Silver go slowly, with the other one ready to punch him if he tried anything sneaky. Silver then started to walk away slowly, before breaking into an all-out sprint.

"Something's not right, and Jasmine needs to know about this," Silver said to himself.

----------

Will was on his way to his job at the Silph Company building that morning when he was interrupted by Sabrina, who teleported right in front of him. He feared more anger from the Saffron gym leader, who looked upset. However, Sabrina's anger was not directed at him.

"Something terrible has happened with Liza, and it has something to do with Team Rocket," Sabrina told Will.

"Are you sure?" Will asked.

"Trust me, I can feel it," Sabrina replied. "We have to teleport to Mossdeep City and help her now."

"What about my job?" Will asked.

"How important is it to you?" Sabrina responded. "You can choose which one you want, but I'm going to Hoenn."

It did not take a second for Will to choose to teleport with Sabrina to Hoenn. Both of them teleported away to Mossdeep City, where they found the city looking normal as ever.

"You go to the gym," Sabrina told Will. "I'm going to find her parents."

Will teleported to the gym, while Sabrina walked around the town, looking for Liza's home. She found a house that was larger than most of the others, then looked at the mailbox outside it.

_Gym Leaders' Home,_ she read. _Yes, this is it._

Sabrina walked up to the door and knocked on it. Her knocking became louder and louder, until she finally realized that no one was going to answer the door.

_I hope they don't mind my intrusion,_ she thought, as she teleported into the house.

Sabrina looked around the house, trying to find anyone. She opened every door in the house, yet found not one person inside. What seemed strange to her is that it looked as if the family had been there just recently.

_Something's not right,_ Sabrina thought. _It's possible that the family is not home at the moment, but it's unlikely, given that it's early in the morning. I feel that there is a real problem here._

She teleported to the Mossdeep Gym, where Will was reading a sign on the door.

"What does it say?" she asked Will.

"Gym Closed Temporarily- Under Authority of the Hoenn League," Will read. "So I guess the Hoenn League shut down their gym?"

"No one's at their house," Sabrina said. "I don't know why they wouldn't be at home."

"Maybe they're at the Mossdeep Space Center," Will suggested. "After all, Liza said her father is in charge of that place."

"Good point," Sabrina noted. "Let's go there now."

Both psychics teleported to the Mossdeep Space Center, but they found the place closed as well.

"It's not open yet," Will said. "This is really strange- where could they be?"

"I think we've been given a hint," Sabrina replied.

"What hint?" Will asked.

Sabrina looked at Will and shook her head. "Sometimes I wonder how much psychic power you really have," she stated. "Their gym was shut down by the Hoenn League. Obviously the answer to their location lies at the Hoenn League headquarters, located in Ever Grande City."

Will looked at Sabrina with amazement.

"And no, you won't ever be as brilliant of a psychic as me," Sabrina told him, reading his mind. "Now come with me."

Both psychics teleported to Ever Grande City, hoping to find Liza and her family.

----------

Jasmine came rushing to her front door, hearing loud knocking. She opened it to find Silver panting.

"Silver!" she gasped. "What's the matter?"

Silver rushed inside and slammed the door behind him.

"There's something… not right… going on," Silver panted, trying to catch his breath.

Jasmine placed her right hand on Silver's shoulder. "Sit down," she suggested. "Relax."

Silver sat down on Jasmine's couch. "Your gym is blocked off by a couple of guards," he explained.

"What?" Jasmine gasped.

"That's not all," Silver continued. "The same thing's going on at Whitney's gym and at Gold's gym. They can't get in their gyms either, because of guards not letting them in, even though they're the gym leaders."

"Why?" Jasmine asked.

"I don't know, and neither do they," Silver answered. "I don't know what's going on, but it's really strange."

"I wonder if this is the same at all gyms in Johto," Jasmine reasoned.

"Call up one of the other Johto gym leaders and see if the same thing's going on there," Silver suggested.

Jasmine frowned at Silver nervously.

"Okay, give me the number of one of them, and I'll do it," Silver said, remembering how the shy Jasmine did not like calling others on the phone. Jasmine found the phone numbers of the other Johto gym leaders, and Silver chose one to dial.

"Who are you calling?" she asked him as he punched in the digits.

"Clair," he responded. "She seems to be pretty knowledgeable as a gym leader; she should know what's going on."

Silver waited a few moments, then heard Clair's voice on the other side of the line.

"Jasmine? Why are you calling?" Clair asked.

"Uh, this is actually her boyfriend, Silver," Silver answered.

"Okay, what is this about?" Clair questioned.

"Is there something strange going on at your gym?" Silver asked.

"Why would there be?" Clair responded.

"The gym here in Olivine City, as well as the ones in Goldenrod City and Mahogany Town, is blocked off by some mysterious men, and none of the gym leaders of those gyms can get in," Silver explained.

Clair paused for a moment. "Interesting," she said. "That's strange, because I can see my gym from my house, and there is no one around it. Maybe the Pokémon League thinks your gyms are inferior to the others, and is closing them down."

"That's impossible!" Silver exclaimed. "Jasmine was ranked #1 of all Johto gym leaders!"

"So I saw," Clair replied. "But I think this is the doing of the Pokémon League Champion- Giselle. She is in charge of the Pokémon League, after all."

"Giselle," Silver mumbled in anger. "Okay, thank you for your help."

Silver hung up the phone. "It's the doing of the Pokémon League," he explained to Jasmine. "They must have shut down these gyms."

"Are you sure?" Jasmine asked.

"That's the only thing that makes sense," Silver replied. "The Pokémon League must have some hidden reason in doing this."

"I don't know…" Jasmine said.

"We have to find out, and this is our way of doing so," Silver said. "I'm calling up Whitney and Gold, and I'm going to get them to come with us to the Pokémon League. Your Skarmory can fly us there, right?"

"Yes, I guess so," Jasmine replied.

Silver then started calling Whitney and Gold, to tell them about his plan.


	4. Out Of Control

Chapter 4

Out Of Control

Sabrina and Will arrived at Ever Grande City, just feet from the large Hoenn League headquarters building.

"Pretty impressive," Will remarked.

"Not quite as nice as the Indigo League building, though," Sabrina commented.

The two walked inside the building together. They were immediately greeted by a Nurse Joy.

"This is not a good time for challengers to come here," Joy told them. "I suggest you go home, for your sake."

"Why would that be?" Sabrina asked Joy.

"The Hoenn Elite are plotting something, and it's not good," Joy replied. "I shouldn't be telling you this, but I don't agree with their actions."

"Are you sure?" Will questioned.

"Chansey was the one who figured it out first," Joy explained. "She can sense when humans are evil… she refused to use her eggs to heal Steven's Pokémon when he came here the other day. That was when I knew there was something wrong. Later I saw all of the Elite-"

"What are you doing here?"

Sabrina and Will turned to face Steven, who had come out of an elevator.

"You must be who Giovanni warned me about," Steven said to them. "It's too late for you, though."

"So you're involved with Team Rocket?" Sabrina asked Steven. "Tell me, where is Liza and her family?"

"It shouldn't matter to you," Steven replied. "You have bigger things to worry about."

"Like what?" Will questioned.

"The Hoenn League is no longer going to be under the umbrella of the Indigo League's operations anymore," Steven announced. "Hoenn belongs to Team Rocket now!"

Will reached for a Poké Ball, wanting to battle Steven, but Sabrina held back his arm from throwing it. "How is this possible?" she asked Steven. "I know there are gym leaders in your very region who would never support Team Rocket."

"Gym leaders? Who cares about them?" Steven laughed. "The Elite are the ones who are making the decisions around here. We will seek out every gym leader in Hoenn who goes against us. The first two, in fact, are already under our custody."

_Come on, Sabrina, let's fight him,_ Will telepathically told Sabrina.

_Just wait a moment,_ Sabrina telepathically replied.

"You won't win," Sabrina said to Steven. "There are many more of us who will fight you and take you out of power."

"Really?" Steven replied. "You'll soon find out that's not the case."

Will let out his Xatu, even with Sabrina trying to stop him from sending it out. "Use Psychic on Steven!" he shouted.

Steven, however, sent out his Metagross, having it use Psychic to counter Xatu's attack. He then backed away into the elevator, having his Metagross return to its Poké Ball just before the elevator doors closed.

"We have to fight him!" Will yelled.

"Not yet," Sabrina responded. "First, we have to notify the Indigo League about what the Hoenn League is doing."

"But what about Liza and her family?" Will asked.

"If Liza's learned anything from me, she'll be just fine," Sabrina answered. "Now we must go to Indigo Plateau."

----------

Silver and Jasmine were now in Mahogany Town, having flown there on Jasmine's Skarmory. They arrived at Gold's house, only a few minutes after calling him on the phone and telling him what they were doing. Gold was standing outside his house, and he ran over to the two trainers on Skarmory.

"I'm telling you, you're crazy," Gold said to Silver.

"Maybe I am, but I'm trying to help you out," Silver responded. "And how often does that happen?"

"Oh, all right," Gold mumbled.

Gold joined the other two on Skarmory, and the steel-winged Pokémon flew the three trainers to Goldenrod City.

"Why do you think this is the best way to go about finding out what is going on with our gyms?" Gold asked Silver.

"It's the only lead we have," Silver replied. "Besides, what if Clair's right, that Giselle closed down these gyms? This is the only way we'll find out."

Skarmory arrived in Goldenrod City several minutes later. It landed next to Whitney's house, where Whitney greeted them.

"This is really strange," Whitney said to the other three trainers. "Why would the Pokémon League do this?"

"Beats me," Gold replied. "But Silver here thinks he knows what's going on, so we're following his idea."

"Rats," Whitney muttered. "If Jasmine was in charge of this, I'd feel pretty good, because she's intelligent. Silver, on the other hand-"

"Oh, knock it off!" Silver snapped. "I'm only trying to help."

Whitney hopped on Skarmory, along with the other three trainers, who were now squeezed on top of the steel Pokémon. Skarmory then took off for Indigo Plateau, as the trainers hoped to find the reason for their blocked-off gyms.

----------

Sabrina and Will arrived at Indigo Plateau, having teleported there from Ever Grande City. They rushed inside the Pokémon League headquarters building, hurrying to the Elite meeting room.

"We have something urgent to tell you," Will announced to the Elite.

"Not now," Lance replied. "We're having a conference call to the Hoenn League."

"Yeah, about that-" Will began.

"Will, you're no longer part of the Elite, so don't act like you're one of us," Karen said to him.

Sabrina and Will watched as Giselle walked reluctantly into the room.

"Giselle!" Sabrina called to her.

"Yes?" Giselle responded.

"We know exactly what the Hoenn League is going to talk to you about," Sabrina said to her.

"Excuse us, but Giselle needs to answer this conference call," Lance interrupted. "She can't be bothered by you two."

"They're psychics," Giselle said to Lance. "Surely they know what's going on."

"I don't care," Lance responded. "You have to do your job. Now Sabrina and Will, please leave."

Will angrily stood still, but Sabrina pulled him out of the room while Lance closed the doors.

_Let them find out for themselves,_ Sabrina telepathically told Will.

"Turn on the screen," Lance told Bruno, who pressed a button. Steven's face came up on a large screen in front of the Elite.

"Greetings, Indigo Elite," Steven said to the Elite.

"Hello, Steven," Lance replied. "Why have you called for this conference?"

"On behalf of the Hoenn Elite, I am issuing our proclamation that the Hoenn League will no longer fall under the jurisdiction of the Indigo League!" Steven announced. "This is our declaration of independence from your league. We are our own entity now!"

"You can't just do that!" Bruno shouted. "You do not have authority to break off from our league!"

"Team Rocket does not answer to authority," Steven coldly replied.

"Team Rocket?" Lorelei gasped.

"That's right," Steven said. "Hoenn is now under Team Rocket control. I strongly suggest you surrender Kanto and Johto to Team Rocket as well, or else face our wrath."

"Why would we do that?" Karen asked. "Team Rocket was shut down not too long ago, and they have no power in Kanto or Johto."

"That's what you think," Steven replied. "You will soon see that Team Rocket is thriving."

The normally talkative Giselle had remained silent, in her attempt to please the other Elite members, who disliked the way she usually would take charge of their meetings. She had grown infuriated with Steven, however, and would not hold in her anger any longer.

"You may have your wish, former Hoenn League Champion," Giselle told him smartly. "You will no longer have any of your privileges as a member of this league. You are permanently banned from the Pokémon League. You and your Team Rocket friends will be brought to justice."

"What do you know, Miss Hotshot?" Steven retorted. "When you watch the very league in which you are in charge being taken over by Team Rocket, you'll soon see how wrong you are."

"Why would Kanto and Johto just turn to Team Rocket?" Lorelei asked.

"If they don't, then they will be destroyed," Steven responded. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a league to run."

Steven cut off communication with the Indigo Elite. While the Elite Four looked at each other in shock, Giselle opened the doors to Sabrina and Will.

"So, how can you help us?" Giselle asked.

Before Will or Sabrina could respond, a man walked over to Giselle and whispered something to her.

"Excuse me," Giselle told the two psychics. "You talk with the Elite while I deal with this problem."

The man led Giselle to the four Johto trainers who had flown to Indigo Plateau on Jasmine's Skarmory.

"What do you want?" Giselle snapped.

"We want to know why the heck you decided to shut down the gyms of these three gym leaders here," Silver responded.

"What are you talking about?" Giselle asked with a laugh.

"There are guards blocking the gyms of Olivine City, Goldenrod City and Mahogany Town, and they won't let their own gym leaders in," Silver explained. "And from what Clair tells me, it was you who shut these gym leaders out!"

Giselle covered her mouth while laughing again. "Please," she giggled. "I don't have time to waste on shutting down your gyms. I'm busy enough trying to keep the Elite Four from going crazy."

"Listen, Giselle," Silver said angrily. "I don't know what you're doing here as the Pokémon League Champion, but the least I'd expect is for you to have the gyms under control. Isn't that your job?"

"You're just jealous that I beat you to become the champion," Giselle replied.

"I don't care about that- well, I do care, I would have liked to win, but that's beside the point!" Silver yelled. "How come you can't keep Johto under control?"

"I can't be everywhere at once," Giselle retorted. "I guess I'm so important that if I'm not somewhere, that place gets out of control."

"Maybe it's your fault that it is out of control!" Silver fumed.

"Calm down, Silver," Jasmine said quietly.

"This girl's not paying attention while our league's gyms are being taken over by people we don't know!" Silver screamed. "This is her fault!"

Giselle paused for a moment. Steven's words echoed in her mind. _When you watch the very league in which you are in charge being taken over by Team Rocket, you'll soon see how wrong you are._

"I'm sorry," she said to Silver. "I now realize what is happening… and it's not good."


	5. Come Together

Chapter 5

Come Together

In the Elite meeting room, Sabrina and Will had just finished telling the Elite Four about their encounter with Steven in Ever Grande City. Lance now turned on a television to check the news in Johto. The television screen showed Falkner of Violet City.

"Violet City belongs to Team Rocket," Falkner announced. "All who choose to fight against us will be destroyed."

The Elite Four were shocked to see Team Rocket agents sprawling around the city behind Falkner.

"This is the beginning of Team Rocket's takeover of Johto," Falkner continued. "Other cities are also under Team Rocket control."

"Interesting you mention that, because we have reports in from Ecruteak City that it is also under Team Rocket control," a reporter said.

"Exactly," Falkner responded. "I suggest that the gym leaders who are not united with us surrender their gyms to Team Rocket, or else face our wrath."

Karen looked at the others in amazement. "Why are Team Rocket's announcements being broadcast like this?" she asked. "Could they have taken over the Goldenrod television station?"

"It's very possible," Bruno replied. "But I don't understand how they have so many agents working for them. I thought they were all centered in Saffron City, and all arrested after the Silph Company incident."

Sabrina looked down in sadness. "They _were_ all arrested then," she explained. "However, the Officer Jenny of Saffron City was corrupted by Lt. Surge. She moved to Olivine City, where Giovanni was jailed. I thought that she and Surge would end their evil ways, but instead he apparently convinced her to release all of Team Rocket's members. This is my fault."

"Your fault?" Will exclaimed.

"Yes," Sabrina sighed. "Several weeks ago I helped with Giovanni's arrest and placement in the Olivine jail, and I failed to sense Jenny's corrupt nature. As a psychic, I should have been able to figure out that she still wanted to work for Team Rocket, and then stopped her then. Instead, I let her go- and now Team Rocket is back in power."

As the television showed various Johto gym leaders claiming their cities for Team Rocket, Lorelei disagreed with Sabrina. "None of us could ever have figured out that she would free Team Rocket members," she said. "It's not your fault."

"I hold myself to a higher standard being a psychic," Sabrina responded.

Giselle walked into the room with Joe by her side, followed closely by the four Johto trainers. "Exactly how many gym leaders have sided with Team Rocket?" she asked the Elite.

"Five," Bruno answered. "They've shown Falkner of Violet City, Morty of Ecruteak City, Chuck of Cianwood City, Bugsy of Azalea Town, and Clair of Blackthorn City."

"Clair!" Silver shouted. "She's the one who said that Giselle shut down our gyms."

"Interesting that we haven't sided with Team Rocket, and our gyms have been taken over by mysterious guards," Gold remarked.

"Now it makes sense," Giselle said. "Your three gyms have had these guards sent by Team Rocket to take them over because you're the only three who haven't turned to them. Their goal was to take over all eight gyms, and they've somehow done so."

"Not yet!" Silver interjected. "We're going to fight to get our gyms back!"

"Uh, Silver, none of those gyms is 'your' gym," Gold pointed out.

"You shut up," Silver replied. "I'm only trying to help you… why should I be doing that anyway?"

"Now, now, you two," Whitney said, trying to stop Gold and Silver from arguing.

All the trainers then held a conference together to try to decide what they should do about the situation. The trainers' personalities dictated the way the meeting went; while the shy Jasmine and the cool Lorelei remained silent, the arrogant Giselle and the loudmouthed Silver went at each other, arguing over what should be done in the situation. Lance and Bruno also got involved in the discussion, mainly to rip Giselle for her ideas. Things began to careen out of control when Sabrina stood up.

"For all we know, the Pokémon world could be collapsing around us, and arguing about it isn't going to help us at all," Sabrina stated. "We need to form a group of trainers who is willing to fight for our cities, friends and gyms, no matter what the cost."

The trainers looked at each other, silently agreeing that Sabrina was right. Silver then stood up.

"We can't allow Team Rocket to take over Johto," Silver said. "I am willing to fight against them. And I'm sure Jasmine, Whitney and Gold are as well."

The other three Johto trainers nodded in agreement.

"I think we could be a great help," Joe remarked. "Come on, Giselle, let's join them."

Giselle sat with her arms crossed. "If that Silver thinks he's running the show around here, he's dead wrong! He may think he's some sort of hero, but-"

"This is your league," Lance interrupted her. "I think you should fight for it."

"Oh, very well then, if only to spite you," Giselle replied. "You don't think I can lead this league, do you?"

"No, I don't," Lance flatly responded.

"We'll see about that," Giselle said.

Will then stood next to Sabrina. "Sabrina and I are willing to use our psychic powers in order to do whatever we can to help save this league from disaster," he stated.

"Very well," Bruno said. "You eight will go fight Team Rocket. We, the Elite Four, will stay here at the Pokémon League headquarters, in order to protect it."

"Seems like someone's trying to get out of work," Giselle commented.

"We can't let Team Rocket send its agents here and just overrun the place," Karen responded. "Someone's got to guard the place."

"Oh, fine," Giselle said. "Come on, let's go."

The seven other trainers followed Giselle outside.

"You're our leader," Gold told her. "Where should we go first?"

"I think it's rather simple," Giselle answered, pointing at Silver. "The place where this whiner came from- so we can solve his problems first."

Sabrina looked at Will. _It's also where Giovanni was sent to jail… it has to be where he's heading this operation,_ she telepathically told him.

"I have my Pidgeot, so I can take Joe on it," Giselle stated. "What about the rest of you?"

"We're going on Jasmine's Skarmory," Whitney answered.

"And we can teleport," Will said.

"Fine, then, let's go," Giselle replied. After a minute of preparation, the two bird Pokémon and two psychics took off, ready to take on Team Rocket.


	6. It Will All Be Mine

Chapter 6

It Will All Be Mine

(A/N: Sorry for the long wait between chapters.)

Sabrina and Will appeared in Olivine City before any of the other trainers. They looked around at their surroundings, not noticing anything suspicious. However, Sabrina felt an evil presence in the area.

_What is it?_ Will asked Sabrina telepathically, seeing a nervous expression on her face.

_Come with me,_ Sabrina replied. Will followed Sabrina as she walked toward the Olivine City jail.

Several minutes later, Giselle's Pidgeot and Jasmine's Skarmory landed in Olivine City. The trainers got off the Pokémon, then looked around for Sabrina and Will.

"Where are those psychic freaks?" Giselle asked angrily. "I thought they had teleportation powers."

"Maybe they teleported somewhere else in this city," Whitney suggested.

"Or maybe they betrayed us," Silver offered. "I wouldn't bet against it."

"Well, forget them," Giselle said. "We're going to this gym that you say is blocked off, and we're going to re-open it!"

The five trainers followed after Giselle as she marched towards a large building.

"Um, Giselle-" Joe said.

"What's the matter, Joe?" Giselle asked. "Don't tell me you're scared!"

"I don't think that's the gym," Joe replied.

Giselle turned around to see the four Johto trainers laughing.

"That's a lighthouse, not the gym," Silver said.

Giselle turned bright red as Joe joined in laughing.

"Well… I thought maybe the gym was at the lighthouse!" she yelled.

"Maybe you should let someone else lead the way," Gold suggested.

"No! I'm the Pokémon League Champion! I take orders from no one!" Giselle responded angrily.

"Well, you can go on your own on a road to nowhere, or you can follow me to the Olivine City gym," Silver said. "It's your choice."

Giselle furiously followed Silver and the other trainers as they headed towards the Olivine gym.

----------

Sabrina and Will were now standing by the Olivine City jail. Will read Sabrina's thoughts, finding that she could sense someone who had caused her great trouble- Giovanni.

_Focus on my mind, and teleport,_ Sabrina told Will telepathically. _We'll teleport to Giovanni's quarters- wherever they may be._

_Where are we going?!_ Will asked frantically. _How can I teleport if I don't know where I'm going?_

_Just fix your mind on mine, and you'll follow me to where I'm going, _Sabrina replied.

Will looked at Sabrina nervously. He had only learned to teleport recently, and now she wanted him to attempt to teleport without knowing where he was going?

_Come on, trust me! _Sabrina snapped at Will telepathically.

_Okay, okay,_ Will responded. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on Sabrina's thoughts as much as he could. The two of them suddenly disappeared.

"Welcome, Sabrina," a man's voice said.

Will opened his eyes to find Sabrina and himself standing in front of Giovanni, the boss of Team Rocket.

"I should have turned you into a permanent doll the last time I saw you," Sabrina hissed at Giovanni. "Your operations end today!"

"Patience, my psychic friend," Giovanni replied with a chuckle. "I'm sure you'll want to know all about how Team Rocket is about to take over the world first."

"I won't be satisfied until you're in the palm of my hand!" Sabrina shouted. She became angrier than she had been in a very long time, then focused all of her anger on Giovanni, attempting to turn him into a doll. However, she began to feel her mind struggle. Giovanni wasn't transforming. What was going on?

"Your psychic attacks won't work on me," Giovanni laughed. "You might as well hear all about my plans- I'm sure you'll love them!"

Sabrina gave Giovanni a cold stare, while Will looked at his girlfriend nervously. Was Sabrina really powerless against Giovanni?

"While you have been wasting your time tutoring that little girl in your precious Saffron City, I've been preparing my Team Rocket agents for the biggest operation in our history," Giovanni began. "We are prepared to destroy any gym whose leader does not surrender to us."

"And I assume these other gym leaders of Johto gave into your demands and surrendered?" Sabrina inquired.

"Well, I shouldn't say 'surrender,'" Giovanni replied. "I mean, it's not like they're being forced to do anything. They're working for Team Rocket because they want to."

"Why would anyone want to do that?" Will asked.

"Ask your girlfriend here," Giovanni chortled. "She knows about the rewards of being a Rocket member."

Sabrina looked at Giovanni with an even angrier stare. "Mewtwo was controlling my mind," she retorted. "That wasn't my choice!"

"Oh, so it wasn't?" Giovanni said with a laugh. "Well, anyway, those gym leaders know that they'll still have gyms when we finish our conquest, unlike those leaders who refuse to give in."

"How did you know they won't give in?" Will asked. "Maybe if you threatened those other three, they'd give in as well."

"I'm not stupid," Giovanni responded. "A pure-hearted trainer like the one who lives in this city won't surrender for the sake of power, nor will they give in when being threatened. That's why they and their gyms must be destroyed."

Sabrina began focusing her mind on trying to turn Giovanni into a doll again, but she could not do a thing. Giovanni simply continued telling the psychics about his plan.

"You may think we're inconsistent, and I will admit, it may look a little strange the way we're going about business," Giovanni explained. "We're taking over Johto by force first, before we kick our Kanto plan into gear. That one's different from this one, as is the one in Hoenn. I mean, while we destroy gyms in Johto, we don't have to be as forceful in Kanto. There will only be two gym leaders to deal with in Kanto- the ones in Celadon and Pewter City."

Will looked at Giovanni in confusion, but Giovanni smiled and continued his explanation.

"You think I counted wrong, masked man?" Giovanni said. "Not at all. Misty of Cerulean City has been training in Indigo Plateau, so she won't be able to do a thing while her helpless sisters give into a half-hearted invasion. Gary in Viridian City took off with his girlfriend to visit the Orange Islands. Janine… well, she's a special part of our plan. And of course, the only other gym leader in opposition to Team Rocket is already right where I want her."

Will was utterly shocked. He did not believe anything Giovanni was telling him, but he did not know how to reply to his claims. Sabrina, however, had different concerns.

"How do you know so much?" she asked Giovanni. "Even a strong psychic like me only knows a limited amount of information."

"I have spies all over the Pokémon world," Giovanni replied. "Just look at that computer, which is pumping in more and more information."

Will looked at the computer screen while Sabrina dismissed Giovanni's claim.

"There's more to it than that!" she shouted. "You have some sort of psychic power you never had before- tell me how you got it!"

Giovanni sat back in his chair and laughed hard. "I guess I couldn't hide that from you forever," he said. "Do you really want to know?"

"Tell me!" Sabrina yelled.

"Fine, then," Giovanni replied, "my executive."

----------

Silver led the other trainers over towards the Olivine Gym, where they could see the guards standing in front of the gym's doors.

"Send out your best Pokémon, because we fight for Olivine City!" Silver announced.

After a flurry of Poké Ball throwing, a Cubone, Weepinbell, Sneasel, Steelix, Miltank and Typhlosion stood in front of the group of trainers.

"Come on, let's go!" Gold shouted.

The Pokémon charged towards the guards, with their trainers running directly behind them. The guards saw the Pokémon coming at them at full speed, and having no escape, began waving their arms in panic.

"What's this?" Silver asked, as the Pokémon and their trainers stopped a few feet in front of the guards. "You surrender?"

"We can't fight you," one guard said. "We're out of here!"

The guards began to sprint away. Silver began to laugh.

"Boy, is that all Team Rocket has to offer?" he asked. "I thought we were in for a real battle!"

"Uh, Silver," Jasmine said, tugging on his sleeve. "We are."

Silver looked in horror as he saw two extremely large Electrodes appear in front of the gym's doors. These giant-sized Electrodes had come from Poké Balls conveniently dropped by the guards as they escaped. They now began to shine brightly as they prepared to explode.

"Run!" Joe yelled.

"But the gym's going to be destroyed!" Whitney gasped.

"We have no choice!" Giselle screamed. "Those things will kill us all!"

Jasmine thought of a plan, then built up the courage to speak up. "Everyone… call back your Pokémon and run. I'll take care of this."

"You can't!" Silver yelled. "I won't let you!"

"Just trust me," Jasmine said.

Silver nodded, and he joined the other trainers in calling back their Pokémon. They began to run away, while Jasmine directed her Steelix to wrap itself around the Electrodes. She then began to run away at the last second.

**BOOM!**

The trainers turned around to see the result of the explosion. They expected to see the gym torn apart, but they were shocked to see the gym in perfect shape. As a large cloud of smoke began to rise, they saw Jasmine's Steelix lying on the ground where the Electrodes had been. Jasmine came running over to her Steelix to check on it.

"Steely?" she asked. "Are you okay?"

Steelix began to wiggle to show Jasmine that it was all right. The other trainers (besides Giselle) looked at Steelix in surprise.

"I don't believe it!" Joe exclaimed. "How did that Steelix survive that explosion?"

"Well, Joe, you should know that Steel types are strong against Normal attacks, and the Electrodes' Explosion was a Normal attack," Giselle explained, with her hands on her hips.

"Those were no ordinary Electrodes," Silver said. "They were larger than usual… even a Steel-type Pokémon should have been blown apart! Why did you risk Steelix's life on it, Jasmine?"

"Steely is no ordinary Steelix," Jasmine replied softly, rubbing her Steelix's head. She knew her Steelix could absorb the explosion, which was the only reason she allowed it to take it. It remained a mystery to the other trainers how this Steelix was exactly this strong, however.

"By the way, where are those two psychics?" Whitney asked.

"Well, I'm not waiting for them," Giselle replied. "I bet your gym and Gold's are both in danger of suffering a terrible fate. We must get there before Team Rocket sets off more explosions."

"I agree," Silver said. "Let's go to Goldenrod City next."

The other trainers agreed. Giselle sent out her Pidgeot, while Jasmine sent out her Skarmory. The two birds took off for Goldenrod City.

Meanwhile, Giovanni cracked a smile in his "cell." He knew of the failure of his Olivine City agents, but he had no fear.

"Don't worry, Will and Sabrina will be joining you shortly," he said with a laugh.


	7. Awakening

Chapter 7

Awakening

Will and Sabrina stood in front of Giovanni, who looked quite pleased.

"You two will be my new executives," he told them with a laugh. "Now go catch those losers!"

Sabrina grabbed Will's hand, and the two of them teleported out of the room, ending up back where they arrived in Olivine City. Will then looked at Sabrina in confusion.

"Does he really think he hypnotized us?" Will asked Sabrina.

"Apparently," Sabrina replied. "I blocked him from reading our minds, so I guess he didn't figure out that we weren't affected by that Gengar."

Will breathed a sigh of relief. He and Sabrina had been lured into a trap set by Giovanni, but the trap had failed. Giovanni's goal was to hypnotize the two psychics with a Gengar he had with him in his room, but the Gengar's hypnosis was not strong enough to work on the strong-minded Will and Sabrina.

"Has Giovanni always been a psychic?" Will asked Sabrina. "I didn't remember him having psychic powers before."

"I've always said that everyone has psychic powers; they just don't realize it," Sabrina answered. "I would have sensed if Giovanni was a psychic the last time I saw him, but I didn't sense anything. That means that some time in between then and now, his psychic powers were awakened."

"Maybe it was that Gengar…" Will suggested.

"Perhaps," Sabrina responded. "Right now, we have to catch up with the others."

She paused for a moment, focusing her mind, then reached out and grabbed Will's hand.

"Goldenrod City," she said, as the two disappeared.

Giselle's Pidgeot and Jasmine's Skarmory came to a soft landing in Goldenrod City, where the trainers got off the large bird Pokémon and started walking Whitney's gym.

"Nice of those psychics to abandon us like this," Whitney mumbled. "We could have used their help."

"Oh, do you really think so?" Giselle responded. "I think they would have only slowed us down."

"Giselle, look!" Joe exclaimed.

Giselle turned around to see Will and Sabrina standing before her.

"We've come to slow you down," Sabrina said to Giselle.

"Where were you?" Giselle asked indignantly.

"We were talking to Giovanni," Will answered.

"Talking to him?! Why didn't you just kill him? He's the root of all our problems!" Giselle yelled.

"Patience, Giselle," Sabrina replied. "Giovanni is very powerful, as he now has psychic powers. I couldn't turn him into a doll as I wished, but he did give away some of his plans before we escaped."

Silver began to lead the Johto trainers towards the Goldenrod gym while the psychics talked with Giselle and Joe.

"They're holding us back," Silver said to his friends from Johto. "We've got to free Whitney's gym."

The Johto trainers arrived at Whitney's gym, finding two guards standing at the doors.

"This time, we can't try the same strategy," Gold said. "I don't want to risk the place being blown up."

"It will require us sneaking up on them and knocking them out," Whitney commented. "What Pokémon would be perfect for that?"

Silver gave a wry smile, then sent out his Sneasel.

"How did I guess that you'd pick Sneasel?" Gold said.

Sneasel snuck over towards the two guards, who did not notice the Pokémon hiding behind various signs and bushes. Finally, Sneasel burst out of a bush and began slashing at the guards' faces like crazy.

"Plan B!" one guard shouted.

Both guards sent out gigantic Electrodes in panic, while running from the still-slashing Sneasel.

"Great," Gold grumbled. "Silver fails us again."

"Hey, how is it my fault?" Silver asked.

"My gym's going to blow up!" Whitney shrieked.

Jasmine looked at her Poké Ball containing Steelix with concern. "I don't think Steely could take another blow like that," she sighed.

"Wait, what's that?" Gold asked.

The Johto trainers looked over to see Sabrina's Alakazam blasting the two Electrodes with its Psychic attack. The Electrodes both fainted, failing to give off any sort of firepower from an explosion.

"You are so impatient," Sabrina said to the four Johto trainers. "You need our help more than you think."

The Johto trainers nodded.

"Now, come on, we've got to go to Mahogany Town," Sabrina told them. "Team Rocket wants to blow up Gold's gym… again."


	8. Poison

Chapter 8

Poison

Janine stood alone in a large room in her house in Fuchsia City, throwing ninja stars at a target. It was part of her daily routine, as she continued to train as a ninja. She sighed, thinking about how things had changed drastically in her life in just the matter of months.

She had watched her father Koga die right in front of her eyes, thanks to Team Rocket boss Giovanni turning on him and poisoning him. That awful sight was burned into her mind- so much, that she swore that her life would not be complete until she took revenge on Giovanni by killing him personally. She knew that Giovanni was now in prison, but this did not give her any satisfaction. She wanted absolute revenge, which meant that she wanted him dead.

"This one's at Silver," Janine said, throwing a star at the target again.

Silver was Giovanni's son, the other one on whom Janine wanted revenge. Koga had taught Janine much about the importance of family… so as far as she was concerned, Silver deserved her wrath just as much as Giovanni. It only made matters worse that Silver had defeated her in a Pokémon League tournament match.

"Janine!" a voice called.

Janine rushed out of the room, going to meet her aunt Aya.

"It's so good to see you, Aya," Janine said happily.

"You too," Aya replied. "How have you been doing?"

"Oh… fine…" Janine responded with a bit of sadness in her voice.

"I know it's been tough for you since Koga died," Aya said. "You just can't keep holding on to your anger."

"I can't help it," Janine replied. "I'm not going to be satisfied until I exact revenge."

"You must let go," Aya told her. "If you don't, you're just going to make matters worse for yourself."

Aya walked into another room, seeing a concoction of liquids in a glass on a table.

"What is this?" she asked Janine.

"Oh, nothing," Janine answered.

"Let me guess- you made a poison in order to exact your revenge," Aya commented.

"These are some of Father's poisons," Janine said. "Since he can't exact revenge, I will."

----------

The eight trainers looked over at Mahogany Gym. Just like at the other two Johto gyms they had visited, there were two guards standing outside the doors of the gym.

"You know, I'm getting sick of flying around freeing your gyms," Giselle said to the Johto gym leaders, while Joe looked on and sighed.

"What have you even done?" Whitney asked indignantly. "Jasmine was the one who saved her own gym, and it was Silver and Sabrina who worked together to rescue my gym from disaster."

"You're right," Giselle replied. "Maybe I should just leave you to fight Team Rocket on your own."

"All right, all right, let's calm down here," Will interrupted the arguing trainers. "We have to work together if we're going to pull this off."

"Yeah, well, let's see Giselle do something for once," Whitney said with her arms crossed.

"Fine, I will," Giselle responded. "Watch this!"

Giselle sent out her Cubone.

"Cubone, I want you to show this inferior gym leader what you're made of!" Giselle commanded.

"Inferior?!" Whitney yelled in anger.

"Don't worry about her, she's just full of herself," Gold told Whitney.

"Time to dig, Cubone!" Giselle told Cubone.

Cubone rushed underground, burrowing a hole and charging towards the guards standing outside the Mahogany Gym. The guards continued to stand there still, giving no reaction to the congregation of trainers only yards away.

"What's with those guys?" Silver asked. "They don't seem to even notice us staring at them."

Jasmine began to think about Silver's observation. Maybe there was a reason that the guards were just waiting to be attacked… surely they could have found out about how the gyms in Olivine and Goldenrod had been freed… perhaps what the guards were doing was all intentional...

"Attack!" Giselle screamed.

Cubone came leaping out of the ground in front of the guards, clubbing each of them with its bone club. It then threw its club towards one of the guards, bonking him on the head, before the club came back to hit the other guard.

"Brilliant!" Giselle shouted. "Now finish them off!"

Cubone began slamming its bone against each of the guards' heads over and over again. Each of them was now lying on the ground, with no chance of escaping Cubone's attacks.

"I'm not the Pokémon League Champion for nothing," Giselle laughed, walking over to Cubone.

"And so are your chances of stopping Team Rocket," a voice said.

Giselle turned around to see Butch and Cassidy, along with a couple of other Team Rocket members she had never seen before.

"Cubone, get ready to fight them!" Giselle ordered her beloved Pokémon.

Butch and Cassidy merely laughed. "I wouldn't waste your time," Cassidy said. "There are other things you should be worried about, Tech girl."

While the two guards got up from the ground and ran away, Butch pulled out a small computer screen. He showed it to Giselle, who gasped in horror.

"What's the matter?" Joe asked Giselle.

"Want to take a look?" Butch replied. He showed the screen to Joe, who looked shocked as well. On the screen was video of Pokémon Tech being invaded by a large group of Team Rocket grunts.

"You'd better hurry if you want to save your school," Cassidy said.

Giselle's eyes burned with anger. "Pokémon Tech holds a special place in my heart- how could you attempt to destroy a place like that?" she yelled at the Team Rocket members.

"What a shame," Butch laughed.

"Come on, Joe, we have to save Pokémon Tech!" Giselle shouted to her boyfriend.

"What about the others?" Joe asked.

"Forget them!" Giselle screamed. She had her Cubone return to its Poké Ball while sending out her Pidgeot. She and Joe then boarded Pidgeot and took off.

"Now, as for the rest of you…" Butch began.

"I know this is some sort of complicated plan from Giovanni," Sabrina broke in. "I can tell from seeing two of his most trusted employees below the executive level- Keane and Charmaine."

"We've come here to finalize Team Rocket's conquering of Johto," Keane said.

"Finalize?" Will asked.

"You'll soon understand," Charmaine responded.

"In the meantime, we've got to go," Butch stated.

Butch sent out a Fearow, which had been what carried the four Team Rocket members there. He and Cassidy jumped aboard the flying Pokémon, which began to fly. But as they began to fly away, Fearow snagged Jasmine with its mouth.

"Silver!" Jasmine shrieked.

"Jasmine!" Silver yelled.

Fearow sped off into the distance, but not before Jasmine was able to throw her Poké Ball containing Skarmory towards Silver. Skarmory came out of its Poké Ball as the ball hit the ground, and Silver jumped aboard.

"I've got to save Jasmine," he told his Johto friends.

"We'll come with you," Whitney said to him.

"No," Silver responded. "You help Sabrina and Will take care of these other Team Rocket members… I'm sure they've got something up their sleeve."

Whitney nodded, as Silver took off on Skarmory, trying to catch up with Butch and Cassidy's Fearow.

"Now what do you want?" Will asked Keane and Charmaine.

Keane simply looked at his watch. "Three… two… one…"

**BOOM!**

----------

Silver rode on Skarmory, hoping to catch the Fearow which had snagged Jasmine. Suddenly he saw something flying not far ahead of him.

"That's Fearow, for sure," Silver said. "Come on, go faster, Skarmory!"

Skarmory continued flying towards Fearow, noticeably picking up ground on Team Rocket's Pokémon. Silver began to wonder why Skarmory was so fast… not many flying Pokémon could keep up with Fearows, after all.

"Is he catching up?" Cassidy asked.

"Yes," Butch answered. He then began to laugh. "I figured that loser would try to follow us with some flying Pokémon, and sure enough, he's coming. If we didn't want him to catch us, he'd have no chance of keeping up with us."

Silver continued to follow Fearow and Team Rocket for some time, not quite able to catch them, but staying just behind them. Finally, Silver noticed Fearow started to descend.

"Are they stupid or what?" Silver commented. "I'm going to easily catch them now."

Silver watched as Fearow landed on the ground near a large house. He then saw Butch take out a Drowzee.

"Come on, Skarmory, hurry up!" Silver yelled at the flying Pokémon, which was just about to land.

But by the time Skarmory landed, Butch, Cassidy, Jasmine, Drowzee and Fearow were all gone.

"They had to have gone inside this house!" Silver reasoned. "Skarmory, return!"

Skarmory went back inside its Poké Ball, while Silver charged inside the house.

"If you want to live, you'd better surrender now!" Silver shouted, trying to figure out where the Team Rocket members could have gone to.

A green-haired woman appeared before Silver. She looked to Silver like some sort of ninja.

"Who are you?" Silver demanded. "Are you helping Team Rocket?"

The woman turned around and ran. Silver bolted after her.

"If you're for Team Rocket, you're going to get it!" Silver screamed.

The woman finally stopped in a room, where she appeared to be talking to a younger girl. Silver followed, before running into an invisible wall. He then tried walking in other directions, but kept bumping into invisible walls.

"What is this?" Silver wondered, staring at the ground. "What have I gotten myself into?"

"So, it's you…" a voice said to Silver.

Silver looked up to see Janine, the daughter of Koga, who had been killed by Giovanni. She was holding a glass container with the poisonous liquid she had made.

"All this time I've been planning on killing you, and now you've walked right into my trap," Janine remarked. She maneuvered around the invisible wall, walking right up to Silver, while Silver failed to find an escape route.

"Now drink this," she said, shoving the poisonous liquid in Silver's face.


	9. Breathe

Chapter 9

Breathe

Whitney and Gold gaped in horror at the sight in front of them. Only feet before them was the largest Dragonite they had ever seen, so heavy that it had made the ground shake when it landed. Riding the Dragonite was none other than Blackthorn City gym leader Clair, the cousin of Dragon-type Pokémon master Lance.

"See what we told you?" Keane said to the shocked Johto trainers.

Sabrina, however, was not impressed. Clearly Team Rocket was doing some sort of experiments with Pokémon in order to super-size them; after all, they had already dealt with two extra-large Electrodes. However, she felt no concern at the size of an opposing Pokémon's body, but rather believed that battles were won in the mind.

"This city is claimed for Team Rocket!" Clair shouted.

"You're deluding yourself," Sabrina replied, pulling out a certain Master Ball. Out came Mewtwo, the Pokémon which had once controlled her mind, until she overcame its power and broke free from its hypnosis.

"You are overestimating Mewtwo's power," Clair said to Sabrina. "This Dragonite is much more powerful than any opponent you've ever seen."

Dragonite then began to float in the air, being lifted by Mewtwo's psychic power. Even as it floated, unable to escape Mewtwo's psychic grasp, Clair did not panic.

"Dragonbreath!" she yelled.

Dragonite spit out a large amount of blue-colored energy at Mewtwo, which was knocked backwards. It also began to lose its psychic grip on Dragonite.

"There is strength in numbers," Will said. "Go, Xatu!"

Will sent out Xatu, which began to use its Psychic attack on Dragonite as well. Sabrina then sent out her Alakazam and Mr. Mime, both of which also grabbed Dragonite psychically. Noticing that even these attacks were not enough to throw the dragon, Will and Sabrina tossed out all of their remaining Pokémon, in a desperate attempt to keep Dragonite at bay.

"You psychics don't know how power dragons really are," Clair remarked. "I guess I'll have to show you!"

Dragonite breathed out three attacks at once: its Dragonbreath, a Fire Blast, and a Thunderbolt. The attacks knocked down all of Sabrina and Will's Pokémon, although the psychic Pokémon were strong enough to keep a mental grip on Dragonite.

"Shall we help?" Whitney asked Sabrina.

"No," Sabrina answered solemnly. "Save yourselves."

Whitney became panicked when she saw a look of worry on Sabrina's face. All the time she was hoping that things would be fine with the psychics on their side, but now she got the feeling that their powers would not be enough.

"Come on, let's go!" Whitney yelled to Gold, grasping his hand. "We've got to escape this place while we can… that thing's going to destroy the whole town!"

"Wait, what about my mother?" Gold asked his girlfriend.

"We'll bring her with us!" Whitney responded frantically.

Whitney began to run with Gold towards his house, where his mother was living. The two quickly noticed that they were being followed by Keane and Charmaine.

"What do they want?" Gold wondered.

Meanwhile, Dragonite continued to attack the psychics' Pokémon, which were still able to hold the dragon in place telepathically, in order that it would not begin to stomp through the town on a rampage of destruction. However, their psychic grips were loosening further and further the more they were attacked.

_What more can we do?_ Will asked Sabrina telepathically.

"Keep attacking!" Clair commanded Dragonite.

Sabrina then thought of something. She teleported up onto Dragonite, standing next to Clair.

"What's the matter, psychic?" Clair taunted Sabrina. "Want to surrender?"

The psychic Pokémon's mental grip on Dragonite finally failed, and the dragon began to charge towards Will.

"You'll regret this," Sabrina said to Clair. She then focused all her psychic powers into an attack on Clair, turning her into a doll.

Suddenly Dragonite stopped its charge, looking around in confusion. It scratched its head, looking harmless and innocent.

"Sabrina! What did you do?" Will called to Sabrina.

Sabrina held up the doll version of Clair for Will to see.

"But… why did Dragonite stop?" Will asked.

"Mind connection," Sabrina answered, floating towards Will.

"Mind connection?" Will questioned.

"Dragonite's mind was connected to Clair's, by some sort of psychic engineering Team Rocket did to it when they made it this large," Sabrina explained. "Dragonite could only do what Clair commanded; otherwise, it has no reason to attack. It's at heart a harmless Pokémon."

"But… but…" Will continued.

"Don't try to understand everything," Sabrina teased Will with a smile. "After all, you'll never be as smart as me."

----------

Silver was lying helplessly on the ground, having just been force-fed poison by Janine. Now Janine stood over him with a ninja star in her hand, ready to kill him.

"Stop," said the green-haired woman, Janine's aunt Aya.

"He deserves to die!" Janine cried. "This boy's father killed Koga! All he will ever be is a murderer like his father!"

"Will the poison you gave him kill him?" Aya asked.

"Yes, although slowly," Janine replied.

"Then let him die with honor," Aya told Janine. "It is the ninja way to allow our enemies to at least have an honorable death."

"Fine," a tearful Janine sobbed, pulling back the ninja star. "This still isn't enough to repay me for Father's death!"

"Please," Silver mumbled. "Help me in one way."

"You don't deserve any help!" Janine yelled.

"All I ask is that you rescue Jasmine from Team Rocket," Silver said weakly. "I only came here to save her."

Janine simply turned around and walked away. Aya then left with Janine, walking into some other portion of their large house.

_This can't be happening,_ Silver thought. _I wish I could see Jasmine again…_

Silver reached for his Poké Balls desperately. He could tell the poison was getting to him quickly… but if he could only tell his Pokémon to save Jasmine for him…

"Come out," he mumbled.

Out came Kadabra from its Poké Ball. Noticing its trainer was in such a bad condition, Kadabra immediately began using its psychic powers on Silver, trying to heal him. By combining its Psychic and Recover powers, Kadabra began to transfer the poison out of Silver's body into its own, then removing the poison from its own body by its Recover ability. Slowly, Silver began to feel strength returning to his body. He could breathe normally, think as usual, and even sit up, although he was still weak.

"Thank you!" he exclaimed, hugging Kadabra warmly, who continued to heal Silver.

----------

Janine was arguing with Aya in a different room of their house. Aya was insisting on Janine rescuing Jasmine from Team Rocket, to honor Silver's request. Janine refused, however.

"Do you realize how much I've been put through by Father's death?" Janine cried. "Why should I help someone who has hurt me so badly?"

"He hasn't hurt you," Aya responded. "His father was the one who killed Koga. I understand you're hurting, but why can't you do something to stop Team Rocket? After all, they're the ones who are under Giovanni's command."

Janine looked down at the ground, thinking. After a minute, she looked up at Aya, still with tears in her eyes.

"I'll do it, if only to hurt Giovanni," she told Aya. "And while I'm at it, I'll kill Giovanni personally- and I'll show no mercy."

"I'll come with you," Aya said. "It will be no easy task to stop Team Rocket."


	10. School's Out

Chapter 10

School's Out

Giselle and Joe arrived at Pokémon Tech on Giselle's Pidgeot, seeing the school in a way they never had before. Team Rocket members were sprawling all over the place, doing all sorts of things, all of which looked sinister. These included hauling off furniture and computers; leading away Pokémon Tech students, apparently to take them captive; and even using Fighting Pokémon to start punching away at some of the buildings. Hopping off her Pidgeot, Giselle reached for her Poké Balls.

"These guys are going to pay," she remarked.

Joe saw something else of interest: one of his teachers, Roxanne, was being taken away by some Team Rocket members.

"Stop!" he yelled, chasing after the Rocket grunts.

Giselle was slightly annoyed by Joe leaving her to do something she felt must be of minor importance, but she figured that she could handle Team Rocket on her own anyway. Out came all of her Pokémon, ready to battle.

"Attack those with 'R's on their shirts!" she commanded.

Her Pokémon scattered around the campus, using their various attacks in order to take down Team Rocket members. Pidgeot grabbed Rocket members by their shirts and tossed them away. Cubone clubbed many grunts, while Raichu electrocuted them. Starmie used its psychic powers to take out all the Fighting Pokémon, while Exeggutor paralyzed many of the Rockets. Graveler made itself most effective by rolling around the campus, taking out grunts as it went. Giselle smiled as she watched her team work seamlessly to destroy Team Rocket's plans.

"And Lance wonders why I'm Pokémon League Champion," Giselle bragged to herself.

Suddenly, she felt herself being grabbed from behind. It was Butch.

"I have you now!" Butch laughed. "We've been waiting to kill you for a long time, and now is our chance."

"That Drowzee sure is an accurate teleporter," Cassidy remarked.

As it turned out, Butch and Cassidy never entered Janine's house; they used Drowzee to hypnotize Jasmine, then they disappeared thanks to Drowzee teleporting them away.

"Drowzee doesn't learn Teleport… it must have been taught it by an old Technical Machine, which is no longer being made…" Giselle reasoned.

"You may be smart, but unfortunately, your mind is about to go to waste," Butch told Giselle, pulling out a knife.

At that moment, the earth shook below Butch and Cassidy's feet. Both of them fell over, while Giselle escaped Butch's grasp.

"What a time for this!" Butch complained.

Out of the ground popped Cubone, clubbing both Butch and Cassidy on the head multiple times. Both Rocket members were knocked out cold. Giselle walked over to Cubone, patted it on the head, then let out a hearty laugh.

"Those inferior Team Rocket members…" she commented.

She then saw a passed-out Jasmine being held by the Drowzee that belonged to Butch and Cassidy.

"I guess they won't be needing her anymore…" Giselle said. "Club Drowzee, Cubone."

Cubone knocked out Drowzee with its Bone Club. With Drowzee unconscious, its Hypnosis wore off Jasmine, who began to wake up.

"Where… am… I…" Jasmine mumbled.

"Your boyfriend apparently stunk it up trying to save you, but fortunately you were brought here to the Champion, who always foils Team Rocket's plans," Giselle boasted.

Jasmine was too confused to feel upset over Giselle's insult of Silver. She simply was happy to be free of Team Rocket's clutches.

----------

At the Celadon City gym, Erika was busy taking care of flowers. She looked up to see Brock, who had come to visit her, as he often did.

"Hi, Brock," Erika greeted him. "What have you come here for?"

"Oh, I just felt like talking to you while I was in town," Brock said.

"Are you enjoying life as a full-time gym leader?" Erika asked.

"Yeah, it's a nice change," Brock said. "I was so used to always traveling, when I was going all those places with Ash, but now that I've returned to my gym full-time, it's a lot more relaxing. I was originally going to keep on traveling, but I decided to take a break, while Ash goes off to Hoenn."

"I'm sure your family's glad to see you around, too," Erika said.

"Yeah, they like having me around," Brock responded. "In fact, part of the reason I came here today was to try to win some money for them at the slot machines."

"You really shouldn't gamble like that," Erika remarked. "It's way too much of a risk."

"Surprisingly enough, I did win some money today," Brock replied. "It's quite a creepy place, though… I saw some strange stuff going on in the back."

"I really wish our town didn't have a casino," Erika commented. "I really dislike gambling."

"Well, I have to be going back to Pewter City," Brock told her. "I'll see you again sometime soon."

"Okay," Erika said. "See you!"

As Brock walked away, Erika thought about how much more mature he had become. Instead of just being obsessed with her looks, he would talk with her one-on-one in a friendly fashion. She did have some concern about the casino, though, and after Brock left, she decided that she was going to go there personally and see what was going on. The other girls at the gym questioned whether it was a good idea for her to go there.

"You can't go to that casino," one girl told Erika. "It's not ladylike."

"You're wearing a kimono," another girl said. "You could get it dirty in a place like that."

"I know, I know," Erika responded. "But I really feel it's important to find out what is going on at that place."

So Erika walked over to the Celadon Game Corner, a business she had been against since its inception. She had never been inside its doors- until now.

"It's Erika!" one slot player exclaimed, seeing the gym leader walk into the casino.

"Hi," Erika murmured shyly, slowly walking into the casino. She looked around, seeing the place absolutely booming with business. People were slipping their coins into their machines non-stop, while there were others crowded around roulette tables.

"We have another big winner!" a man behind the counter announced. "Mr. Gamer with a ¥10000 win on slot machine #3!"

A few people rushed over to slot machine #3, going as far as pushing each other to get to the machine.

"Lots of winners all over the place," the man behind the counter announced. "Keep on pulling those levers!"

Erika decided to talk to the man behind the counter. "Excuse me," she said.

"Erika! What a pleasure it is to see you walk into our place!" the man exclaimed.

"I was wondering…" Erika began.

"You know, we can open up a slot machine just for you, if you want," the man said.

"Actually, I didn't come to play the slots," Erika said.

"You didn't?" the man responded with surprise. "Oh, that's right, roulette. You want in on the next roulette game?"

"No, no," Erika replied. "I'm not a gambler."

"Not a gambler?" the man asked. "Why are you here, then?"

"I was just curious about the business," Erika commented. "I wanted to know why this place is so popular."

"Well, isn't it obvious?" the man said. "It's because we have so many winners!"

A man came up to the counter. "I need more coins," he said. "I just ran out."

"Don't worry, we have plenty of those to go around," the man behind the counter responded. "It will be ¥1000 for 50 coins."

"Sure!" the man said, paying for more coins.

"Now granted, not everyone's a winner," the man behind the counter explained, as the other man walked back to his slot machine. "But let's face it, it's a very high-risk-high-reward type of business."

"I understand," Erika said. She was about to walk away, satisfied that the business was not as bad as she originally thought. However, she then noticed someone walking up stairs coming from the basement. It was a blonde-haired girl, who looked at Erika with suspicion.

"Why is she here?" the girl asked the man behind the counter.

"She was just curious about our business," the man replied.

"Yes, I was concerned about it," Erika spoke up.

"Why?" the girl asked. "You think we're run by Team Rocket or something?"

"No, no," Erika answered.

"Well, you shouldn't worry about us," the girl replied in a bit of an annoyed voice. She then went back down to the basement.

"Sorry, she can be a little rude sometimes," the man explained.

"I wonder why she brought up Team Rocket," Erika commented.

"No real reason," the man said nervously.

"I've got to find out more," Erika said. She ran down the stairs that the girl had gone down.

"What are you doing?" the man asked. He ran over to the wall, peeling back a poster and pushing a button.

Meanwhile, Erika came to the bottom of the stairs, looking around the place, which looked like a warehouse. She ran over to one room, finding nothing inside.

"I guess there's nothing here…" she remarked.

She then turned around, seeing an electronic clear door close, locking her in the room.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"You've fallen into our trap," a voice said. Erika then looked through the glass door to see the girl she had followed downstairs.

"My name is Domino, and I am a member of Team Rocket," the girl explained. "You may have thought Team Rocket was dead, but many of us have been running Team Rocket under this Game Corner ever since Giovanni was forced out of Saffron City. Our goal is to take over this city first, and what better way then to capture the gym leader?"

"You aren't going to make it very far with Giovanni locked away," Erika replied.

"Don't worry, we'll be just fine," Domino laughed. "What's most important is that you're locked away!"

She walked away laughing, while Erika sat down sadly. Her curiosity had cost her big-time; now she was trapped in this room.

----------

Whitney and Gold rushed into Gold's house, where his mother was shocked to see the two of them come in so quickly. While Gold's mother asked them what they were doing, the two trainers slammed the door and locked it, panting from their sprint away from Keane and Charmaine.

"Could someone tell me what is going on here?" Gold's mother asked.

"Team Rocket members are after us, and there's a giant Dragonite attacking the town," Gold responded, trying to catch his breath.

Whitney peeked out a window, pulling back the curtains just enough to be able to see. She was shocked to see Sabrina and Will standing around, with no Pokémon around them.

"What- what happened?!" she screamed.

"Oh no," Gold responded, fearing the worst. "Don't tell me…"

Gold pulled back the curtain further to take a look, seeing the same sight Whitney saw.

"How did they do that?" Gold asked in disbelief.

"They're psychics," Whitney replied. "I thought we'd be safe with them."

Sabrina, meanwhile, stood triumphantly next to Will, holding out a Master Ball, with which she had captured the large Dragonite.

"I guess Team Rocket did give us one good thing… these Master Balls, which can capture other trainers' Pokémon," Sabrina remarked, referring to Team Rocket's failed plan to steal Pokémon by using Master Balls, of which she played a part.

"Are you going to try to battle with that thing?" Will asked Sabrina, with a bit of fear in his voice.

"Of course not," Sabrina replied. "Once we foil Team Rocket's plans, I'm going to figure out how to get this back to normal size, and then release it."

Will smiled, reacting to both Sabrina's selfless idea to allow the Dragonite to go free, as well as her confidence that they would defeat Team Rocket.

"Hey, what happened here?" a voice asked the two psychics.

Sabrina and Will turned around to see Keane and Charmaine, who noticed that Dragonite was no longer attacking the psychics. They looked frantically for Clair.

"You looking for this woman?" Sabrina asked, holding out the Clair doll.

"What did you do to her?" Keane demanded.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sabrina replied. "I made her a harmless plushie."

Keane's eyes burned with rage. "You're just as cruel as our boss!" he yelled at Sabrina. He threw out a Poké Ball, with his Magcargo coming out.

"You really want to battle?" Will asked. "This will be easy."

Sabrina grabbed Will's arm as he tried to throw out a Poké Ball. "A battle is not necessary," she said. "Here, you may have Clair."

Sabrina handed the Clair doll to Keane, who looked shocked, though not as stunned as Will.

"Now we must be going," Sabrina said to Will, who gave her an angry look.

_What are you doing, Sabrina?_ Will asked her telepathically. _Have you lost your mind?_

_I'll explain it all later, Will,_ Sabrina replied. _Just take my hand and focus your mind on mine._

The confused Will reluctantly grabbed Sabrina's hand, then focused his mind on hers. The two disappeared from Mahogany Town, as they teleported away. The two Team Rocket members looked at each other in disbelief.

"All we have to do now is give Clair to the boss, and she'll be back to normal," Charmaine said.

"Right," Keane responded. "But why did Sabrina just give her to us?"

The two Team Rocket members left Mahogany Town, trying to figure out exactly why Sabrina had given Clair to them, as well as wondering what their next task would be.


	11. Collision Course

Chapter 11

Collision Course

(A/N: Sorry again for the long wait.)

Silver had found his way out of Janine's house, feeling a rush of emotions. He was happy to be alive, as well as a little bit scared from almost being killed. But mostly, he just felt angry. Angry at Butch and Cassidy. Angry at Janine. Angry at Team Rocket in general. He was even angry at Giselle, that know-it-all who inadvertently helped distract him while Butch and Cassidy's Fearow grabbed Jasmine. With his trusty Sneasel at his side, he ran out of Fuchsia City, then towards a city gate.

"What do you mean I can't get through?!" Silver screamed at the gatekeeper, who was refusing him access.

"This is Cycling Road- meaning you need a bicycle to travel on it," the gatekeeper retorted, with a bit of an annoyed attitude clearly showing in his body language.

"Try to stop me!" Silver replied, running through the gate.

_What an idiot,_ the gatekeeper thought. _That guy will never make it up that mountain on foot._

Silver, meanwhile, started to run up the monstrous Cycling Road when he bumped into a Biker who had parked his bicycle.

"Hey, what's this?" the large Biker snarled, picking up Silver's Sneasel. "I think I'll keep him."

Silver's first instinct was to have Sneasel tear the Biker's face to bits, but looking at the gigantic hill facing him, he thought of a better idea.

"How about this offer," Silver suggested. "We'll have a Pokémon battle. If you win, you get my Sneasel. But if I win, I get your bike."

The Biker laughed. "Okay," he chuckled. "It shouldn't be so hard to beat someone as stupid-looking as you!"

----------

Janine and Aya had left their house before Silver did. It was not even a minute before they saw a few Rocket grunts outside their house, seemingly plotting to do something with the Doduos they were riding.

"Perfect," Janine commented. "Another chance at revenge."

Janine threw out her Venomoth, which blew Poisonpowder at some of the Rocket grunts. A few of them boarded the Doduos and flew away, but they left one Doduo behind, which Janine and Aya boarded.

"After them!" Janine commanded.

The Doduo followed the Rockets, not because of Janine's command, but because it was surprised to be left behind by the other Doduos. The Doduos flew towards Celadon City, which was Team Rocket's new Kanto headquarters.

----------

Giselle tapped her foot in annoyance, waiting for Joe. All of the Team Rocket grunts had been cleared out by her Pokémon. What was he doing?

"I can't wait for him forever," she sighed to herself.

She ran towards one of the buildings, hoping to find Joe inside. Jasmine watched her run off, still totally confused about what was going on.

"Joe! Where are you?" Giselle shouted, walking inside one building. She looked around frantically, trying to find him. Finally, after walking past some classrooms, she saw Joe… but not alone.

"Roxanne, I was worried about you," Joe said to Roxanne.

"I'm okay," Roxanne responded. "Thanks for rescuing me from those Rockets."

"You can count on me," Joe said.

Giselle was indignant. She rushed into the classroom in a fury, stepping between Roxanne and Joe.

"Joe! I can't believe you!" she screamed at Joe. "I let you out of my sight for ten minutes, and you're cheating on me with this girl!"

Roxanne's red eyes opened wide with shock. Joe looked at Giselle with fear.

"Giselle, I wasn't-"

"Oh, sure you weren't," Giselle continued. "I heard you in here! What is it about this girl that makes her better than me?"

Roxanne covered her mouth and began to giggle.

"You think this is funny?" Giselle said, turning to Roxanne. "How would you feel if this happened to you?"

"Relax," Roxanne replied. "I already have a boyfriend. Joe is just my student- he probably rescued me in order to get a better grade."

Giselle's face turned red, as she realized that she was wrong. Of course, she refused to admit it.

"Come on, Joe," she said, grabbing Joe's hand and dragging him out of the room.

Roxanne laughed as she watched Giselle lecture Joe. She then dragged outside the unconscious Team Rocket members who had tried to kidnap her.

"What is it that makes you like that Roxanne so much?" Giselle continued. "Am I not beautiful enough?"

Joe finally interrupted Giselle. "That's not possible," he said. "No girl could be as beautiful as you."

There isn't much that could stop Giselle when she gets on a rant, but flattery certainly can.

"Oh, all right, I forgive you," Giselle laughed, kissing Joe on the cheek.

Roxanne then came outside, bringing the knocked-out Team Rocket members with her.

"How are we going to clean out all these unconscious Rockets?" she asked Giselle and Joe, looking at all the Team Rocket members lying around the ground, from being knocked out by Giselle's Pokémon.

"Simple," Giselle answered. She sent out her Starmie.

"Surf, Starmie!" she shouted. Starmie then sent a wave of water over the Pokémon Tech campus, washing all the Team Rocket members out of the area.

"That should get rid of them, for now," Giselle said, calling back her Starmie.

Jasmine came running over to the other three trainers.

"What's the matter?" Joe asked.

"Um… those Team Rocket members who captured me before… they seem to be waking up," she replied.

The four trainers looked over at Butch and Cassidy, who took out their Fearow, hopped aboard it, and flew away.

"I guess they were too scared to battle with me," Giselle laughed.

"Or maybe they have some other evil scheme, and they just got away," Roxanne commented.

Giselle looked over at Roxanne with annoyance… first she tried to steal her boyfriend, now her thunder. She wasn't about to take much more of this.

----------

Silver rode up Cycling Road on his new bicycle, which he had just won in a bet against a Biker. The Biker had actually refused to give Silver his bike after losing, but Sneasel scratched up Biker's face, allowing Silver to hop aboard the bike and pedal away.

"I'm going to find Jasmine or else," he remarked to his Sneasel, who held on to the handlebars in front of Silver.

Silver pedaled through Cycling Road and on another small route. Finally, he reached a city.

"Celadon City- The City of Rainbow Dreams," Silver said, reading a sign. "Sounds like too happy of a place for me."

However, Silver then saw a bird come flying into the city. There was no doubt about it- it was Fearow, and Butch and Cassidy were aboard it. He could not see Jasmine, but he figured he could simply not see clearly from how far away he was. He watched them go towards a certain building.

"How unfortunate for them, that I would show up to ruin their fun," Silver commented to himself. "Let's go, Sneasel!"

While Silver thought he had everything figured out, a couple of ninjas came flying into the city on a Doduo, also following Team Rocket members into the Game Corner…


	12. Resolve

Chapter 12

Resolve

Sabrina and Will appeared in Ever Grande City, having teleported there from Mahogany Town. Will was deeply confused over Sabrina's actions, and Sabrina knew this, but she merely laughed.

"What is it with you, trying to keep everything secret from me?" Will asked angrily. "You don't even tell me where we're going, nor do you tell me why you gave Clair to those Rockets. You can't hide everything from me!"

"Be patient," Sabrina replied calmly with a smile. "I'm not trying to hide anything from you."

"Then explain why we're here!" Will responded.

"To rescue Liza and her family, why else?" Sabrina responded.

Will looked at Sabrina in shock. "You mean we've abandoned the rest of the group?" he asked. "I don't know if they can handle Team Rocket."

"They can, and they will, trust me," Sabrina said. "Besides, Liza's like a sister to me. I can't just forget about the fact that she and her family have been captured."

"Okay, okay," Will sighed. "But please tell me, why give Clair back to Team Rocket? Why not just keep her in doll form?"

"That would be cruel," Sabrina answered. "I can't do that anymore to people."

"Why not?" Will asked.

"It's your fault," Sabrina replied, smiling at Will.

Will first looked at Sabrina with confusion, but then it hit him that she meant that he had caused her to become a more compassionate person. Suddenly he no longer felt angry at her, realizing her compliment to him.

"It's time to save Liza," Will said. "Let's go."

----------

Whitney and Gold sat on a couch in Gold's house, watching the television. They saw reports coming from various cities of Johto with Team Rocket members taking over buildings and causing chaos.

"What can we do?" Whitney asked.

"We can't do anything," Gold answered. "It's just the two of us- the rest of them have abandoned us. We can't do a thing on our own. We're not strong enough."

Whitney looked down sadly. She was hoping that Gold would have poise, but if he wasn't confident, how could she possibly be?

"I don't feel right about watching Johto fall to pieces before our eyes," Whitney commented. "We can't just sit here!"

"We won't be able to stop them on our own, and you know it," Gold responded.

Whitney sighed. "Gold, come on!" she cried. "We could lose this whole land by just sitting here! What do we have to lose from trying to stop them?"

Gold stared at Whitney seriously. "A lot," he replied. "Remember how Team Rocket tried to kill my mother?"

Whitney looked over into the other room, seeing Gold's mother sitting at a table nervously. "I see," she said. "You want to at least protect your mom… I guess we have to hold on to what we have left."

"Things were so much easier when Silver and Jasmine were with us," Gold commented. "Silver may be my rival, but he and Jasmine are both strong… they'd never back down from a challenge. We don't have their strength."

"I guess not," Whitney replied. "I wish I knew where they were."

"That reminds me," Gold said. "I have Silver's cell phone number… I should call him and find out what's going on… I hope he found Jasmine."

Silver, meanwhile, was just about to enter the Celadon Game Corner. Just as he went to step through the front doors, he heard his cell phone go off.

"What the heck is someone calling me for now?!" he yelled in frustration. "Surely it's not Jasmine… she doesn't like using phones… hello?"

"Silver! It's good to know you're all right!" Gold answered.

"Boy, this figures," Silver replied. "Who else but Gold would interrupt me at the worst possible time?"

"Have you found Jasmine yet?" Gold asked.

"That's what I was about to do, before you called and slowed me down, you idiot!" Silver screamed. "What is with you? You're probably just sitting on your couch, watching television, while I'm off trying to take down Team Rocket and some crazy ninjas, all by myself!"

"Ninjas?" Gold said excitedly.

"Yes, yes," Silver responded. "Now leave me alone!"

Silver hung up before Gold had a chance to say anything else.

"So, is Jasmine all right?" Whitney asked.

"No, but Silver's the same as always," Gold replied.

Gold saw Whitney become intently focused on the television. He then realized that the news reports were now saying that Team Rocket members were claiming to be off to Goldenrod City next.

_I'm off trying to take down Team Rocket and some crazy ninjas, __**all by myself!**_

Silver's words repeated in Gold's mind. _All by himself,_ he thought. _He's not scared. Why should I be?_

"Come on, Whitney, we've got to go to Goldenrod," Gold announced.

"But Gold, you said that we're not strong enough," Whitney protested.

"We may not be, but at least we can prove that we're not scared," Gold replied. "Our Pokémon will give their all, and that's the least we can do to try to save your city."

"Okay," a determined Whitney said. "I'm with you!"

"Be careful," Gold's mother called to the two trainers, as they left the house in a hurry.

----------

Giselle, Joe, Roxanne and Jasmine took off on Giselle's Pidgeot, as they planned to fly back to Johto and go back to fighting Team Rocket. This was Joe's idea; the other three reluctantly agreed with him.

_Why does that stupid Roxanne have to come with us?_ Giselle thought. _If Joe knew me better, he wouldn't have allowed her to come._

_I know Silver came looking for me… now he won't be able to find me if I'm back in Johto, because he thinks I'm still going to be in Kanto,_ Jasmine thought.

_I probably shouldn't be doing this,_ Roxanne thought. _I was just trying to arrange things in my classroom while everyone was away at spring break, but now I've got myself into a much bigger situation._

"We've got to back to Mahogany Town and fight those Team Rocket members," Joe announced. "We can't just allow them to take over Johto."

After a few minutes, Pidgeot landed in Mahogany Town, where the trainers were shocked to see no Team Rocket members.

"Where could they be?" Giselle asked. "Surely those other trainers weren't powerful enough to defeat them."

"Those psychics may have been able to," Joe suggested.

"Maybe," Giselle replied. "Or maybe they ran off after getting beaten badly."

The four trainers paused, all looking around, not knowing what to do next.

"Um… I know my friend Gold's house is over there," Jasmine suggested, pointing over at Gold's house. "Maybe he went home."

"Let's find out," Joe said.

The four trainers walked over to Gold's house. Giselle knocked on the door. After a minute or so, Gold's mother opened the door.

"Sorry, I had to check to make sure you weren't Team Rocket members, but I looked out the window and saw Jasmine," Gold's mother said. "How can I help you?"

"We're looking for the trainers who were fighting against Team Rocket earlier, including your son Gold," Joe told Gold's mother. "Do you know where they went?"

"Yes," Gold's mother responded. "They took off for Goldenrod City, because there was a report on TV that apparently Team Rocket is invading there." 

"Thank you," Joe replied. "We're going to help them."

The four trainers boarded Giselle's Pidgeot, which Giselle directed to take off for Goldenrod City, as their strange adventure continued.

----------

Keane and Charmaine found their way to Giovanni's "cell" through an underground tunnel. They had called Giovanni and told him that they needed to visit him, and since Officer Jenny was off in Vermillion City, they couldn't simply get to him by asking Jenny for permission to visit him. Giovanni, however, had his Nidoking dig a hole. Nidoking came out of the hole where Keane and Charmaine were waiting, and the two of them followed Nidoking to Giovanni.

"Boss, we have a problem," Charmaine told Giovanni.

"What is it?" Giovanni asked.

Keane held out the Clair doll.

"Sabrina's work," Giovanni grumbled.

"Sabrina gave her to us after turning her into a doll for some strange reason. We need you to get her back to normal," Charmaine said.

"I will," Giovanni replied. "But I'm shocked that Sabrina gave her to you."

"I was, too," Keane said.

"This Sabrina is not only powerful, but she's changed, too," Giovanni commented. "She's not interested in power anymore… the Sabrina I knew would have never allowed you to have Clair back. Too bad she doesn't know the extent of my full power!"

Giovanni began to laugh, then he stared at the Clair doll and focused his mind. Within seconds, Clair was back to normal.

"Where am I?" Clair asked.

"Don't worry about that," Giovanni answered. "I've got a new plan for you… you three are going to help me conquer Goldenrod City!"


	13. Big Trouble

Chapter 13

Big Trouble

Silver charged into the Game Corner, with Sneasel by his side. He was shocked to see no sign of Team Rocket, but instead a bunch of people playing slot machines.

_Something's not right here..._ Silver thought. _I'll talk to that guy at the counter… he has to know something._

Silver walked up to the counter. The man working there seemed to be fearful of something, just from his body language, but he kept up his usual jovial attitude.

"Are you ready to win?" the man asked Silver. "We've got all kinds of winners here at the Game Corner! I'm sure you'll win too, because you look like a winner to me!"

"Let's talk turkey," Silver sneered at the man. "I know Team Rocket's headquarters is in this building. How do I get there?"

The man gulped. He was already nervous enough after he accidentally let two non-Rocket females into the Team Rocket underground headquarters by mistake, as they managed to sneak in with a bunch of other Rockets, including Butch and Cassidy. Now this guy somehow knew about their underground hideout?

"I… I… don't know… what you're talking about," the man stuttered.

Sneasel jumped up onto the counter, holding out its claws.

"Okay, okay… I hope I don't get fired for this…" the man muttered, running over to a poster and pushing a button behind it. A passage to the underground headquarters opened up.

"Thanks," Silver said, running with Sneasel down the passage. The man quickly pushed the button again, closing the passage's entrance behind Silver.

"Okay, who wants to win?" he announced to the many gamblers, who nonchalantly continued pulling the slot levers.

Silver and Sneasel ran full force into the underground hideout of Team Rocket. It looked like a giant warehouse, with lots of rooms scattered around the place. They were both surprised not to see any Team Rocket members coming out after them.

"What's going on?" Silver asked. "It's as if they all went off chasing someone else."

Silver then began to hear a faint "Help" coming from a room nearby.

"That must be Jasmine!" he exclaimed. He rushed over to the room, seeing a button next to the door of the room. He quickly pushed the button, and the door opened up. Silver then saw Erika sitting on the floor.

"Thank you," Erika said.

"Who are you?" Silver asked.

"I'm Erika, gym leader of this city," Erika responded. "I got trapped in here while trying to figure out what Team Rocket was doing in here."

"Well, I didn't come here to rescue you," Silver grumbled. "I want to find Jasmine, and I'm awfully sure she was brought here."

"We'll find her, then," Erika said.

Silver and Erika began walking through the warehouse, trying to find Jasmine. Silver went over to several rooms, but found no way to open the doors to them. They continued to press on, finally finding a large room with a door that Silver opened with the push of a button. When the doors opened, the two trainers were in shock.

"Is this… real?" Erika asked.

Before the trainers was a large laboratory, with scientists working at computers in front of large machines. Pokémon were standing in the machines.

"What's happening to that Hitmonchan?" Erika whispered to Silver, pointing at the fighting Pokémon.

Silver and Erika gasped as the Hitmonchan began to flash, then suddenly began to grow larger and larger. Within seconds, the Hitmonchan was giant-sized.

"That must be how they were making those Electrodes so large," Silver commented.

"Huh?" Erika asked.

Suddenly, a few scientists turned around and noticed Silver and Erika standing there.

"Who are they?" a scientist asked. "After them!"

The gigantic Hitmonchan began to chase Silver and Erika, who began to run through the warehouse, finding it to be like a maze.

"How are we going to get out of here?" Erika wondered.

"Get out of here? I'm not leaving until I find Jasmine!" Silver shouted.

Silver and Erika darted down one hall, losing the Hitmonchan, but finding more unpleasantries.

"Well, well, well," Butch snickered. "If it isn't the loser boyfriend of that girl we captured."

"Where is she?" Silver demanded. "I must know!"

"We don't know," Cassidy replied.

"Don't lie to me!" Silver screamed. "I know you're hiding her somewhere!"

"You can choose not to believe us," Butch said. "I don't care. Right now, you've got bigger things to deal with!"

Butch and Cassidy sprinted away.

"Wait!" Silver called. "I know you have Jasmine somewhere!"

"Um… we're in trouble…" Erika told Silver.

Silver turned around in horror to see the giant Hitmonchan about to punch him and Erika.


	14. A Female Fatality

Chapter 14

A Female Fatality

(A/N: I am very, very sorry for the extremely long delay.)

Gold and Whitney found themselves in an unenviable position: trying to use their few Pokémon to fight off a ton of Team Rocket members and their poison Pokémon, who were intent on taking over Goldenrod City.

"This is ridiculous," Gold remarked. "These guys don't know when to quit... we're wiping them out easily, but there are too many of them."

The battle raged on, but suddenly a flying Pokémon came swooping into the city.

"What's that?" a Rocket grunt asked.

"Some more of these idiots!" another grunt replied, noticing Giselle, Joe, Roxanne and Jasmine getting off Giselle's Pidgeot.

"Attack them!" Joe announced.

The four newcomers sent out their Pokémon to fight the Team Rocket members. It took little time for the Rockets to find themselves being beaten badly.

"We're going to have to retreat if this keeps up," a grunt commented.

Giselle's Cubone began running around and clubbing Rocket grunts on the head, knocking them out. However, in all the confusion, one grunt was able to escape, rushing towards the Radio Tower.

"What's he going to do there?" Whitney gasped.

"He won't do anything…" Gold replied, running after the grunt.

Gold chased the grunt up staircases in the Radio Tower. The grunt was planning on causing some sort of havoc, but he noticed Gold gaining on him quickly, giving him little time to think of a plan.

"You're not going to cause any more mayhem!" Gold called after the grunt, getting closer and closer to catching him.

Finally, the grunt and Gold reached the top level of the Radio Tower. The grunt looked back at Gold, then paused, allowing Gold to tackle him.

"You're through now!" Gold yelled.

The grunt laughed. He was bigger than Gold, so he used his strength to push Gold towards the window. Gold reached for a Poké Ball, hoping to fight off the grunt with his Typhlosion, but it was too late.

"Goodbye!" the grunt screamed, pushing Gold right through the window, with glass shattering everywhere.

Gold fell out the window, landing on the ground intensely while glass came crashing down on him. Whitney gasped in horror, running over to her injured boyfriend. While the grunt in the Radio Tower was easily taken under custody by security guards, he had managed to hurt Gold badly, succeeding in one goal for Team Rocket.

"Gold, are you all right?" Whitney asked, with tears streaming down her face.

Gold gave no audible response, just looking at Whitney with pain on his face. Whitney quickly sent out her Miltank, who picked up Gold.

"Come on, Miltank, we've got to get Gold to the Goldenrod Hospital," Whitney told her most-trusted Pokémon.

----------

Sabrina and Will teleported into a room where the Hoenn Elite were gathered. Sidney, Phoebe, Glacia and Drake stood to the side, while Steven addressed the two psychics.

"So, you've found our headquarters?" he remarked. "That's fine. You're obviously looking for Liza and her family, but if you want to find them, you'll have to go through the barrier."

Steven pointed towards a hallway on one side of the room, which had a blue bubble-like entrance to it.

"That barrier is teleport-proof, but it contains Liza and her family, so if you want to get to them, you must walk through it," Steven said. "Poké Balls are unusable in that barrier, in case you were thinking of using your Pokémon in there. Of course, if you so choose to walk in there, you must deal with whatever may be lurking in there… it's your choice."

Sabrina read Steven's mind, finding that he was telling the truth about what he was saying. She then focused her mind on the hallway, which she figured out to contain all sorts of powerful Pokémon.

"Don't even try to pull out your Pokémon now," Steven said, seeing Will reach for a Poké Ball. "We'll simply close up the barrier, and you'll have no way of getting to Liza and her family."

Will looked at Sabrina seriously. _Should we stay or should we go?_ he asked her telepathically.

_Liza's like a sister to me… I can't just allow her to remain there,_ Sabrina replied. _You stay here while I go through._

Sabrina walked toward the hallway, while Steven began to laugh. "I thought you were smart, but apparently even psychics can be stupid," he said, while Sabrina entered the barrier.

Sabrina began to walk down the hallway, with Will watching intently. Suddenly a Metagross jumped out and attacked Sabrina, knocking her over. Then a Salamance and Glalie both appeared, attacking her as well. Will gasped in horror, watching Sabrina getting attacked by these powerful Pokémon. A couple of minutes later, he watched as the Pokémon walked away from where Sabrina was… but he did not see her anywhere.

"Good work," Steven said to the Pokémon. "Now there's only this loser left… do you want to try?"

----------

Silver pushed Erika away from the giant Hitmonchan's fist, and both of them barely avoided being punched. The two then took off down another hallway, trying to escape the huge Hitmonchan.

Just a few hallways away, Janine and Aya were chasing after Butch and Cassidy. Butch and Cassidy split up, and likewise Janine and Aya split as well, with Janine chasing Cassidy, while Aya chased after Butch.

"You're going to pay for working for the organization that killed my brother!" Aya yelled at Butch.

Aya threw a shuriken at Butch, which grazed his left arm. He then came to a stop, allowing Aya to come up right behind him.

"Any last requests?" Aya asked Butch, putting a shuriken to his throat.

"For you to die," Butch replied. His right hand held a knife, which he quickly thrust into Aya's stomach. As Aya fell to the ground in pain, unable to slash Butch's throat, Butch then went into a stabbing frenzy, not just killing Aya, but cutting her body dozens of times.

"That was invigorating," Butch said, walking away triumphantly.

Meanwhile, Silver and Erika came running down that hallway, finding Aya's body lying in a pool of blood. Erika shrieked seeing the sight, running away in terror. Silver bent over to take a closer look, seeing that it was indeed the woman who had been in Janine's house.

"What a shame," he muttered.

He then looked up to see Janine staring at him and Aya's body. Janine first looked at her aunt's body, shrieking and crying. Silver tried to think of something to say, but he could not come up with anything. After a minute, Janine looked up at Silver, giving him the coldest, angriest stare he could ever imagine.

"You- you psycho!" she screamed at him. "I'll kill you!"

"I didn't kill her!" Silver protested.

Janine threw a shuriken at Silver, cutting his right shoulder. Silver then ran away, trying to escape Janine's fury, though not before being cut by another shuriken, this time in the back of his left leg.

"I shall kill that boy, no matter what it takes," Janine vowed, chasing after him.

----------

"Sabrina…" Will cried out in sadness, fearing his girlfriend's death.

"It's hopeless for her," Steven said. "She was probably either torn apart or eaten, or maybe even both."

"Or neither," a familiar voice said.

Sabrina appeared in front of Steven, punching him in the face. She then ran over to Will.

"Come on, Will, I have a new strategy," she told Will.

"How did you escape that?" Will asked her.

"You actually think that barrier was too strong for me to teleport through?" Sabrina replied. "You must underestimate my powers as a psychic."

Will smiled, then grasped Sabrina's hand, as the two teleported away again.


	15. Revenge Rampage

Chapter 15

Revenge Rampage

Whitney looked nervously at the doctors tending to the injured Gold. She then looked down at her boyfriend, who smiled weakly.

"Gold…" she mumbled.

"I'm going to be okay," Gold replied.

"He's broken several vertebrae," one of the doctors said. "It is going to take a long time for him to recover."

"But- but- Team Rocket's attacking Johto, and we're some of the few who are actually fighting against them!" Whitney protested. "If Gold doesn't fight-"

"Miss Whitney, Gold cannot walk right now, and he will not be able to for a long time," another doctor explained. "We have heard of the state of our land, but we cannot do anything about it."

Whitney frowned. It now appeared it would be up to the rest of the trainers to deal with the Team Rocket takeover of Johto.

----------

Janine sprinted through the halls of the underground Team Rocket hideout. Silver couldn't have made it far, she figured. She looked at the ground, seeing a trail of blood.

_That's definitely him,_she thought.

However, as she continued to follow the path marked by blood, the giant Hitmonchan came lumbering down the hallway towards her. The first instinct for Janine was to run the other way.

_Never fight a battle you cannot win,_ Koga's words echoed in Janine's mind.

However, something changed inside Janine. Running away may save her own life, but why would saving herself even matter if it meant her enemy would escape? She was ready to give everything she had to kill not only Silver, but any member of Team Rocket.

"Die!" she screamed at the Hitmonchan, throwing several shuriken at it. The shuriken sliced the giant Pokémon in vital locations, sending it collapsing to the ground, crashing into nearby walls at the same time.

Meanwhile, Silver continued to run through the underground headquarters of Team Rocket, hoping to find Jasmine, when he found the heart of the operation. Before his eyes were scientists using machines connected to Poké Balls, which was apparently how they were enlarging the Pokémon. He then saw other employees shoving Poké Balls into a chute, with the words "To Vermillion City" posted above the chute.

_So, they're making mega-sized Pokémon here, then shipping them off to Vermillion City,_ Silver thought. _But why there?_

He then felt a rush of pain. He looked down at his leg, which continued to bleed badly. Janine's shuriken had cut him badly, and he did not know what to do about it.

"Who's that? Get him!" Team Rocket employees yelled, seeing Silver.

Silver took off. Running through the maze of hallways, he finally caught up to Erika, who was near the staircase to the exit door of the underground.

"We've got to get out of here!" Erika shouted towards Silver.

"I'm not leaving until I save Jasmine!" Silver responded.

"I don't think she's here," Erika replied. "Besides, you're in very bad shape."

Silver looked down at his leg, seeing the bloody mess it was in.

"Okay," he said to Erika. He followed her up the staircase, but they found the door to be locked.

"Great," Silver complained. "Just what we need."

He then looked over to see Butch running down a hallway, coming their way.

"Not good," he said. He sent out his Sneasel, who started slashing furiously at the door. After what seemed like hours, but really only took seconds, Sneasel broke through the door, and Erika and Silver followed the Pokémon out of the underground.

"Want to play the slots? We've got lots of winners!" the man behind the Game Corner counter announced to Erika and Silver, who ignored him as they ran through the Game Corner and out of the building.

----------

Sabrina and Will appeared outside the Hoenn League Headquarters.

"Well? Now what?" Will asked Sabrina, annoyed.

"Patience, Will," Sabrina replied. "That psychic barrier is quite strong, and the one holding it up is Steven himself."

"He can't possibly be that strong of a psychic," Will commented. "Is he even a psychic?"

"I would think you would trust me, but apparently of all the things I know, I don't know you well enough," Sabrina said with a bit of anger in her voice, looking away from Will.

"All right, all right, I guess you're right," Will sighed. "But surely you can make him break it, can't you?"

"Wrong," Sabrina replied, looking back at Will. "Unless I killed him, the only way to break that barrier is for him to lose focus, and the only way for him to lose focus is for his mind to be taken over by his weakness."

Will looked at Sabrina like she was speaking in another language.

"All right, I'll explain it so even a so-called psychic like you can understand," Sabrina said with annoyance. "I don't want to kill Steven. That much I'll make clear to you now. So the other way to get that barrier to fall is for his weakness to take over his mind. You see, Will, every psychic has at least one weakness. You seem to have many weaknesses, while I have only one that I know of."

"What's that?" a smiling Will asked.

Sabrina turned around so Will could not see her blushing face. "It's you," she mumbled.

"Oh…" Will chuckled. "So you mean if we had some sort of psychic battle, you'd have trouble winning, because your mind would be distracted by my presence?"

"Shut up!" Sabrina snapped, although with an embarrassed smile.

"So anyway, we need to find Steven's weakness. What possibly could that be?" Will asked.

"Who knows," Sabrina responded. "But if I had to make a guess, it would be a girl…"

----------

Janine rushed through the underground Kanto headquarters of Team Rocket, coming to the laboratory that Silver had found earlier. All of her previous inhibitions about killing her foes were gone. The only thing on her mind was revenge.

"Die!" she screamed, throwing shuriken in all directions, hitting multiple Team Rocket scientists. Scientist after scientist fell, as Janine went around attacking them in an absolute fury. Butch and Cassidy came running into the room, hearing a commotion.

"What's going on here?" Butch yelled.

He then saw Janine killing the scientists like mad. Without hesitation, he pushed the "self-destruct" button on the wall.

_Giovanni told me that if anyone tried to take charge of our headquarters, we'd have to blow it up, so no one could use those giant Pokémon against us,_ Butch thought.

Butch and Cassidy then rushed towards the chute where the Poké Balls were being shipped to Vermillion City. They opened a special hatch and jumped in. However, they would not be alone, as Janine saw them.

"You're not escaping!" she yelled, jumping into the chute after them.

Seconds after her escape, the underground headquarters began to explode, sending the Game Corner on the top floor crashing down to the bottom.

"Come on, keep on playing those slots, we've got lots of winners!" the man behind the counter said, completely undeterred by the explosion.


	16. Breakup Song

Chapter 16

Breakup Song

Hoenn was now a split land- some cities were in chaos, while others remained the same as normal. Mossdeep City had been thrown into panic with Liza's family being missing. Rustboro City began to become out of control, with Roxanne no longer there, and quite a few people suspecting the Devon Corporation of evil things. Brawly, who had traveled back to his home of Dewford Town, found the citizens worried about claims from the Hoenn League that they were now separate from the other leagues.

On the other hand, there were the cities with gym leaders who had remained there the whole time, and they stayed completely under control. Winona had everything under control at Fortree City, although she did find some of the news she heard to be quite unsettling. Wallace, likewise, had his Sootopolis City in order, even while often visiting his girlfriend Winona. And in Lavaridge Town, things were as normal as ever. Flannery was relaxing in the hot springs, instead of battling, as usual. And her boyfriend Tabitha was doing something suspicious, like always.

"You want me to help you guys out again?" Tabitha said, talking on his cell phone. "But I thought you were in jail!"

"We were," Maxie responded. "But strange stuff is going on in this jail… some Team Rocket members came to our cell, let us out, gave us Team Rocket uniforms, and told us to start some mission in Hoenn again."

"Uh… weren't we supposed to have learned a lesson from last time?" Tabitha asked. "Like when we tried to use those two legendary Pokémon, and nearly all our friends were killed?"

"That won't happen this time," Maxie replied. "Giovanni says our plan is foolproof- so even you can't screw it up!"

"Okay, okay, where do I meet you at?" Tabitha asked.

"Lilycove City," Maxie said. "Get there soon. Oh- and don't bring the girl."

"Why not?" Tabitha asked.

"That's sort of like bringing a policeman with you while trying to rob a bank," Maxie responded.

"Oh, all right…" Tabitha whined.

"Now get over to Lilycove as fast as you can!" Maxie said.

Tabitha hung up, disappointed. He liked his girlfriend Flannery. However, he felt a strong bond with his lifelong friends from Team Rocket, who briefly split into Teams Magma and Aqua. So he wanted to do whatever he could to help his friends. Telling Flannery this news would be the hard part…

"What do you mean?!" Flannery screamed from her spot in the hot springs, as Tabitha told her he was off to help his Team Rocket friends. "I thought you were through with those creeps!"

"Well, not really…" Tabitha said. "I mean, those guys have been my friends for a long time…"

"Who's more important to you, them or me?" Flannery asked.

Tabitha thought about it for a moment, then began to run the other way.

"Sorry, I got to go!" he called.

"You aren't serious, are you?" Flannery asked.

"Good-bye!" Tabitha called, as he ran off, on his way to Lilycove City.

Flannery sat in the hot springs, stunned. Did her boyfriend really just leave her to rejoin Team Rocket? Was this a breakup?

"Oh, well," the relaxed Flannery said to herself. Nothing really got to her; and besides, she never really got close to Tabitha anyway.

----------

Whitney stared at her injured boyfriend Gold with tears in her eyes, worrying about his injury, as well as the fate of her beloved city. That was when several trainers popped into Gold's room.

"Is he all right?" Roxanne asked.

"What are you doing here?" Whitney asked, with a bit of anger in her voice, seeing Roxanne, Joe, Giselle and Jasmine walking into Gold's hospital room.

"Excuse me, but we were just checking on the health of your boyfriend here," Giselle retorted. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"What about Team Rocket?" Whitney asked.

"We wiped them out," Giselle said with a smile. "It was no problem."

"Oh… thank you," Whitney mumbled.

"The question is, what do we do now?" Joe commented.

Giselle thought for a moment, then responded, "Why worry? I'm sure if Team Rocket's got anything left, we'll destroy them easily."

"But you've seen how much they've been able to do in such a little amount of time," Joe said. "Wouldn't it make sense to go after their boss and end their operations once and for all?"

"Joe, I'm the Pokémon League Champion, not a heroine," Giselle responded. "That type of stuff is not for a girl like me."

Joe sighed, looking at Roxanne, who put her hand over her face in frustration at Giselle's remark. Jasmine, meanwhile, stood by the wall, silent. She wondered where Silver was, and if he was all right…

----------

Silver awoke in Erika's gym, with several girls taking care of his wounds. He saw Erika applying some sort of herbs on his leg.

"Our plants are very good at curing all sorts of ailments," Erika told Silver. "You'll be better in no time."

"I don't understand…" Silver said. "How did I get here?"

"You fainted, and my Victreebel carried you here," Erika answered. "Now just rest."

Silver stared up at the ceiling. Jasmine was nowhere to be found. He had absolutely no clue where she was. His gut feeling was that she was all right, especially since he never saw her in Team Rocket's underground headquarters. However, he was still concerned about her. As for that ninja Janine that seemed to hate him so badly, he had no concern. He figured he'd never have to deal with her again, or at least so he hoped…

----------

The Hoenn Elite Four began questioning Steven on his plans. They could not understand what Steven was planning on doing with Liza and her family, who were still inside the psychic barrier.

"Don't worry, I have orders from Giovanni on what to do," Steven stated. "If Sabrina doesn't return here within an hour, then I'll kill them. The whole goal is to distract Sabrina as long as possible, while he carries out his other plans."

"Which are-?" Glacia asked.

"He's planning on taking over Johto by force, but he has first to eliminate the three Johto gym leaders who are against him, by destroying their gyms, or destroying them," Steven explained. "Once Johto is under his control, then he's going to slowly conquer the rest of the Pokémon world. Hoenn will be last, and I'll be given control over Hoenn."

"How can you be sure he's going to do that?" asked Drake. "This guy isn't exactly the most honest character around."

"I trust him, and besides what choice do I have?" Steven said. "If I go against him, I get destroyed along with the rest of the trainers that go against him."

Sabrina, meanwhile, was able to telepathically hear everything Steven and the others were saying. She told Will about Steven's conversation.

"What should we do, then?" Will asked.

"I'm not letting Liza die," Sabrina answered. "I figure those trainers are strong enough to hold their own against whatever Giovanni's got lined up for them."

"But how are we ever going to free her?" Will asked. "You say we need to find Steven's weakness, but how are we going to do that?"

"Well, keep in mind that Steven is very near to the barrier," Sabrina said. "If he was to go somewhere away from this barrier, it would weaken. Maybe if we can get him involved in some sort of battle… he won't be willing to battle us, but maybe someone else… come on, we need to teleport again."

Sabrina held out her hand for Will to grasp, but Will stepped away from her. "Are you really going to teleport away, with Liza's life in danger?" he asked her.

"Relax, we'll be back within an hour," Sabrina said, smiling. "We're off to Sootopolis City."


	17. Standpoint Theory

Chapter 17

Standpoint Theory

Sabrina and Will appeared in Sootopolis City outside the city's Pokémon Center. Sabrina then led Will to the Sootopolis Gym, but upon arriving there, they found the place empty.

"Okay, do you plan on telling me what you're doing?" Will asked Sabrina.

"I thought you'd be able to figure it out for yourself, psychic," Sabrina replied.

"Oh, sure, play these games with me!" Will said. "Go ahead, block my mind from being able to read yours, then try to make me guess what you're doing! It may be fun for you, but not for me!"

Sabrina merely laughed in response.

"What's so funny?" Will asked.

"I'm just trying to take the pressure off you," Sabrina answered. "Let me do all the strategic thinking, while you just follow along. It's easier on you."

"Maybe it's easier, but don't you think it's dangerous?" Will questioned.

"Come on, Will, you seriously think you're in danger when I'm around you?" Sabrina responded. "I promise you, as the stronger psychic, I'll always protect you."

_The man is supposed to protect the woman, _Will thought.

"Maybe in most relationships," Sabrina said, reading Will's thoughts.

"Oh, come on, you just love teasing me, don't you?" Will protested.

Sabrina smiled. "Come on, we're wasting time," she told him. "Let's find out where Wallace is… he could be of some use to us."

----------

Janine found herself in some sort of storage room. She quickly found her way out of the room, then realized where she was- on the S.S. Anne!

"How did I get here?" she asked herself. She remembered dropping down a chute while chasing after Butch and Cassidy, but she couldn't quite remember how she got here.

"I have the feeling this ship is being used for Team Rocket's operations," she said to herself. This was not just a random guess; she could see several "R" logos on boxes on the ship, as she walked around, exploring it.

Butch and Cassidy crept out from behind several boxes on the ship. They saw Janine walking around on the ship, and they decided that this was their chance at killing her. Both of them came sneaking up behind Janine, who continued to look around the ship. Butch crept closer and closer, pulling out his knife. He then went for the kill…

----------

"I've got to get going!" Silver yelled. "I've got to save Jasmine, she could be in big trouble!"

Silver was still being treated by Erika and her gym assistants, who kept on adding more and more herbs to his wounds. These were slowly healing him, but they were also preventing him from finding Jasmine.

"You still can't move," Erika told Silver gently. "You're too hurt."

Silver smiled. "You know, you remind me a lot of my girlfriend," he told Erika. "As much as I yell and scream and get upset, she's always calm. Nothing ever seems to affect her. I don't understand why it is… I don't know how someone so shy can be so strong."

"Maybe you have a misconception of shyness," Erika said. "You think that someone who is shy must be weak. Perhaps those who are loud mask their weaknesses, and those who are quiet mask their strengths."

This idea really hit Silver. While he always felt that Jasmine desperately needed his protection, he now realized that maybe she was a lot stronger than he thought. He also remembered how Jasmine had comforted him when he felt weak… maybe she was doing quite fine anyway.

_I might as well find out how Gold is doing… he and Whitney may have fought some big battle, for all I know,_ Silver thought. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Gold's number.

In the Goldenrod Hospital, a commotion began when the trainers heard Gold's cell phone ringing.

"Who could possibly be calling?" Gold asked. "I can't even reach my phone!"

"It can't be too important," Whitney commented. "You don't need to answer it."

"What if it is an important call, though?" Joe asked. "You never know."

Jasmine, who was standing by a table where Gold's phone sat, calmly picked up the phone and answered it. "Um… hello?" she said.

"Jasmine! It's you! Oh, am I happy to hear your voice!" Silver exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Jasmine answered. "Where are you, Silver?"

When Gold heard this, he rolled his eyes, annoyed that Silver was calling him.

"Celadon City," Silver responded. "And you?"

"I'm in Goldenrod City with Gold and Whitney," Jasmine replied. "Maybe you should talk to Gold…" Jasmine handed the phone to Gold, as she hated talking on the phone.

"What now?" Gold said on the phone in a clearly annoyed voice.

"Well, isn't someone grumpy," Silver responded. "What could be going so badly? Is Team Rocket taking over everything or what?"

"No, Giselle and some others came and helped us take care of Team Rocket," Gold replied.

"Oh, so what are you so upset about?" Silver asked. "You haven't had the type of injuries I've had while fighting Team Rocket."

"Would you like to make a bet on that?" Gold asked.

"Of course I would," Silver said.

"Then come over to the Goldenrod Hospital," Gold replied. "Ask to see the guy whose back was broken."

Silver paused, shocked at what Gold had just said. "Oh… I'm sorry…" he mumbled.

"Yeah, so stop complaining," Gold said. "Anyway, get here as soon as possible. I'm sure Team Rocket will have started some more trouble by then."

----------

After talking with a few people in Sootopolis City, Sabrina and Will found out that Wallace had gone to Fortree City to visit his girlfriend Winona. The two of them subsequently teleported to Fortree, hoping to find Wallace there. However, once they arrived there, they found neither of the two prominent Hoenn gym leaders in the city.

"Where next will you take me on this wild goose chase?" Will asked Sabrina.

"Hey, I've never claimed to know everything," Sabrina replied.

Will walked up to a citizen of the city, asking him if he knew where Winona or Wallace was.

"Oh, those two lovebirds…" the citizen said. "They went off to visit Winona's friend Flannery in Lavaridge Town… something about a breakup."

"Lavaridge Town... that's our next destination, Sabrina," Will told the green-haired psychic girl.

"Let's try again…" Sabrina sighed, grasping Will's hand.

----------

The S.S. Anne was not far from the dock, and citizens of Vermillion City could clearly hear a loud female scream coming from the ship.

"You actually thought you could sneak up on a ninja?" Janine commented, looking down at the fallen Butch, who she stabbed with her shuriken right before he was able to stab her.

"Butch!" Cassidy screamed. "No!"

Cassidy was crying over Butch's body, when she looked up at Janine, who showed no remorse. Janine did not hesitate in killing the other Team Rocket member, then walking away to explore the rest of the ship.


	18. Fighting Spirit

Chapter 18

Fighting Spirit

Sabrina and Will appeared in Lavaridge Town, and after looking around the town for a little while, they found Wallace and Winona talking with Flannery.

"You sure you're fine, Flannery?" Winona asked her friend.

"Of course," Flannery replied. "Come on, nothing gets to me."

"Well, I thought you might be devastated by the breakup," Winona said.

"Oh, come on, there will be someone else for me," Flannery responded. "I'm not like you, having a hard time getting Wallace out of your mind-"

"All right, all right," Winona interrupted Flannery, with Wallace smiling.

"Excuse me," Sabrina broke in. "We could use your help."

"How could we be of assistance to you?" Wallace asked.

"We have a battle challenge for you in particular, Wallace," Sabrina explained. "It is from Hoenn League Champion Steven."

Will and Wallace both looked confused. "I would expect Steven to contact me directly," Wallace said to Sabrina. "Why would he send you to give me the challenge?"

"He wishes to remain in Ever Grande City," Sabrina replied. "He wants you to come there and battle him immediately."

"Immediately? What's the rush?" Wallace asked.

Winona crossed her arms in annoyance. "I don't believe this," she complained. "I finally get a chance to escape all the problems of this world, and here comes this challenge."

"Relax, Winona," Wallace said to her. "If you wish for me to remain here with you, I will. Steven is in the position as Champion anyway."

Both Will and Sabrina looked worried after hearing this response. "Wait," Sabrina broke in.

"Sorry, but tell Steven his challenge can wait," Wallace told Sabrina.

"We need your help," Will said with desperation, before starting to explain the truth.

A few minutes later, the five trainers were on Winona's Altaria, flying towards Ever Grande City.

"Why didn't you just tell us the truth in the first place?" Winona asked.

"Even as a psychic, I don't know everything," Sabrina answered. "My thought was that you would not suspect Steven and the Hoenn Elite of wrongdoing."

"Quite the contrary," Wallace said. "I was Champion of this league at one point, and I always noticed that those Elite Four were suspicious characters."

"This is my job as leader of the Hoenn gym leaders, anyway," Winona explained. "I must protect my fellow gym leaders such as Liza and Tate."

"In addition, once we arrive there, you should check to make sure that they have not set a large trap," Wallace commented. "They may have other Team Rocket members all around the Hoenn League Headquarters building, with the intent of making any rescue attempt fruitless."

"Good idea," Will responded. "Sabrina is the one who can break through the psychic barrier, so she can't do that, but I'll look outside the building to make sure they don't have any other Rockets around."

"I'll come with you," Flannery said. "You don't want to have to fight alone if you're caught by spies."

"If there are any," Sabrina commented. "I didn't sense any beforehand, so I doubt there actually are any."

Winona's Altaria brought the five trainers to Ever Grande City, where they hoped to free Liza and her family.

----------

The trainers sitting in Gold's hospital room were interrupted by another cell phone ringing. This time, it was Giselle's phone.

"Yes?" she answered the phone.

"Giselle, this is Lorelei… we have an urgent request for you," Lorelei said.

"You? I guess the Pokémon League can't survive without me," Giselle responded.

"Giselle, we received a call from Cynthia, the League Champion of the land of Sinnoh," Lorelei told her. "She says her land is in a precarious position."

"Cynthia?" Giselle asked. "I've never heard of her. What happened to Shirona?"

"Cynthia _is_ Shirona," Lorelei replied. "She prefers to be called Cynthia, even though her real name is Shirona."

"Oh, okay," Giselle said. "So you want me to go to Sinnoh and take care of things there, because obviously no one can function without my help?"

"Yes," Lorelei responded with annoyance. "I don't know what the problem is, but it seems like it is pretty severe."

"Fine, I'll do it, but just remember this when you Elite try to say I don't do anything important," Giselle said.

Giselle hung up, and the other trainers could see she was clearly in a bad mood.

"What's up?" Joe asked her.

"Those stupid Elite are forcing me to go off to the land of Sinnoh, to take care of something," Giselle replied. "Apparently their land will fall apart if I don't do something about it."

"I'll come with you," Joe suggested.

"I'd love for you to come, but I wouldn't want you to waste your time," Giselle told Joe. "You don't deserve to have your time wasted by the worthless Indigo League."

"It's never a waste of time for me to be with you," Joe responded. "I really want to go with you."

"Fine, then," Giselle said. "Sorry, I have business to take care of… I can't save the butts of you Johto trainers anymore."

"Good luck," Whitney said, as Giselle and Joe left the hospital room.

----------

Janine continued to look around the S.S. Anne as the ship continued to travel across the sea. She could not find who was controlling the ship, although it was in fact being controlled by Lt. Surge, who was with Saffron City's Officer Jenny in a hidden room. The S.S. Anne cruised towards the Olivine City harbor, where Giovanni specifically wanted it to go. Janine noticed that the ship was getting close to a city, but she had no idea why it was headed towards Olivine in particular, or what the ship's purpose was. She did know one thing: if she saw anyone related to Team Rocket, she was prepared to kill them immediately, without any second thought.

----------

Sabrina, Will, Flannery, Wallace and Winona arrived in Ever Grande City. While Will and Flannery started to look around the outside of the Hoenn League Headquarters, the others walked through the doors of the giant building. They then saw Steven standing before them, with the Hoenn Elite Four also in the room.

"Well, who do we have here?" Steven commented, seeing Wallace and Winona walk in next to Sabrina. "The man who valued a girl over his title as champion."

Wallace bristled over Steven's comment, as he was referring to the fact that Wallace was the former Hoenn Champion, who turned over his position in order to be the gym leader of Sootopolis City so he could hold the same title as Winona.

"What exactly are you doing as League Champion?" Wallace asked Steven angrily. "Sabrina tells us you've captured two of our own gym leaders."

"So, you've sided with her?" Steven responded. "Let me warn you, you're only doing yourself more harm."

"What have you done with Liza and Tate?" Winona screamed at Steven.

"Whoa, whoa, what's the sudden outburst for?" Steven asked. "You Hoenn leaders haven't heard the news, have you?"

"What news?" Winona demanded.

"Hoenn belongs to Team Rocket now," Steven replied. "Any who oppose us will suffer the consequences."

Steven then threw a Poké Ball, revealing a Metagross. The Metagross grabbed Winona psychically, picking her up and throwing her through the psychic barrier!

"No!" Wallace cried, as he watched Winona go through the blue bubble, which led to where Liza's family was captured. His eyes turned full of rage, and he gave Steven a furious glare.

"What's the matter, Wallace?" Steven taunted.

Wallace refused to answer. He simply sent out two of his Pokémon- Whiscash and Milotic, to battle against Steven's Metagross.

"Please, is that all?" Steven laughed.

Metagross then took on both of Wallace's Pokémon at once. Electricity and water flowed through the air as the battle raged. Both Steven and Wallace focused in on the battle, giving Sabrina exactly what she wanted- a distraction.

"Your Metagross won't hold out much longer!" Wallace yelled.

Drake then noticed Sabrina had disappeared. "The psychic!" he called out to Steven. "Where is she?"

Steven looked over to where Sabrina had been standing, not seeing her in the area. "Oh no," he muttered. "It was a set-up."

This was a second distraction for Steven, as he lost focus on the battle. Wallace's Whiscash launched a Thunderbolt attack that knocked out Steven's Metagross.

"Now you're going to pay," Wallace said to Steven.

Wallace's Pokémon sent their attacks towards Steven, but they were absorbed by Drake's Salamence, which he sent out to battle.

"Give up, Wallace," Steven said. "We can all send out tons of Pokémon, and you'll be hopelessly outnumbered."

Wallace ignored Steven, instead staring into the blue bubble, trying to get a glimpse of Winona's long purple hair. He could not see anything, however.

_Winona…_ he thought in desperation.

----------

Sabrina was able to make it to Liza's family and Winona, far inside the tunnel, which was protected by a second psychic barrier. This barrier was previously impenetrable, until Steven was distracted, allowing Sabrina the possibility to teleport inside. However, Steven now had regained focus, stopping Sabrina from getting out.

"What are we going to do, Sabrina?" Liza asked Sabrina. "I've tried everything you've taught me, and it's not enough."

"I think it would be possible for me to escape, and perhaps you too," Sabrina replied. "But even I don't know how Winona can get out of here- she has no psychic ability."

"I've been always able to count on Wallace," Winona commented. "I trust he's going to figure something out."

----------

Wallace found himself surrounded by Pokémon which were sent out by members of the Hoenn Elite Four. He reached down and sent out his six Pokémon in desperation, but he still found himself outnumbered.

"You'll never see your precious Winona again," Steven taunted Wallace. "My psychic ability will keep her trapped in that barrier as long as I want."

Wallace reached down and touched a certain Poké Ball which he still had with him. _I don't care what it takes, I won't fail you, Winona,_ he thought.


	19. All Because Of You

Chapter 19

All Because Of You

The S.S. Anne came to a stop in the Olivine harbor. Janine thought about waiting to see if any Team Rocket members would come out of hiding on the boat, but then she realized that such an idea may be suicide, if too many Rockets came at her at once. She quickly found her way off the boat and onto land. Her goal was to find Giovanni and Silver, and kill them both. Nothing was going to stop her from doing that now.

----------

Silver finally was up, after being treated for such a long time by Erika and her friends. He tried thinking of the easiest way to get to Goldenrod City, then remembered the Magnet Train in Saffron City.

"Thank you so much," Silver told Erika. He reached into his pocket, trying to find some money with which to pay Erika.

"You're welcome," Erika responded. "You don't owe me anything- after all, you rescued me. Now you be careful!"

"I wish I could," Silver replied, as he walked out of the gym.

Silver walked towards Saffron City, where he planned on taking the train to Goldenrod. He wondered what Team Rocket could possibly be up to now. After all, their Kanto operations had just been destroyed, with one large explosion, which the girls in the Celadon gym had been talking all about. Team Rocket's underground headquarters in Kanto were now kaput. Still, they clearly had something going in Johto, his home, and he definitely wanted to make sure that they would not achieve their goals.

----------

Wallace looked around in desperation. His Pokémon had surrounded him in order to protect him from the attacks of the Hoenn Elite's Pokémon. However, all of them were getting weak from taking so many hits. Even worse, no one was coming out of the blue bubble, where Winona, Sabrina, Liza and her family were trapped.

"You're going in there next!" Steven yelled at Wallace.

At that moment, Will and Flannery walked into the room. They had inspected around the outside of the building and found no Team Rocket grunts, so they came inside to tell the results, walking down a hallway to get to this room. Will had already sensed something bad occurring, but he figured Sabrina could handle it. After all, Sabrina's words still echoed in his mind… _"I promise you, as the stronger psychic, I'll always protect you."_

_Where are you, Sabrina?_ Will called out psychically, but received no response, due to the psychic barrier between him and her.

"Who do we have here?" Steven asked, seeing that two new people had entered the room. "A strange-looking man, and-"

Steven stopped talking upon seeing Flannery. This was the Lavaridge Town gym leader he had heard about, the one who was claimed to be the most beautiful girl in Hoenn.

"It's true," Steven said quietly.

"What are you doing, you idiot?" Glacia yelled at Steven. "You know that psychic girl will break through the barrier if you're distracted!"

Steven ignored Glacia, staring at Flannery. Was Flannery really on the side of those who he had captured? And if so, how could he live with the fact that he had imprisoned her friends?

"Where's Winona?" Flannery asked nervously.

"This man captured her," Wallace shouted, pointing at Steven.

Steven looked at the Hoenn Elite Four, then looked at Flannery. What was he to do? What decision could he make?

"Wallace, retrieve your Pokémon," Steven said.

"Why? To concede defeat?" Wallace asked.

"No… to escape…" Steven replied.

He allowed his mind to lose its psychic control of the barrier, which slowly disappeared, opening the hallway from Liza's family to where the battle had been raging.

"What's wrong with you?" Phoebe yelled at Steven.

"I'm sorry…" Steven muttered.

"He's turned on us!" Drake yelled. "Get him!"

"Everyone, run!" Steven called to Wallace, Flannery and Will.

Wallace retrieved his Pokémon, then joined Steven and Flannery in running to the exit of the building. Will, meanwhile, teleported to join Sabrina.

_Steven's weakness… we found it!_ Will telepathically told Sabrina.

_Don't waste time telling me something I already know,_ Sabrina replied telepathically. _We have to help these ones escape._

Sabrina and Will then began to guide Liza's family and Winona down the hallway, as Pokémon started to attack them. Sabrina sent out her Alakazam and Mr. Mime to make temporary barriers to try to protect the ones she was leading down the hallway.

"Is this some sort of trap?" Wallace asked Steven, as they ran away from the attacks of the Hoenn Elite's Pokémon.

"No… I can't explain…" Steven responded, getting Wallace even more suspicious.

"Come on, we're almost out!" Flannery called to the other two, who she led toward the doors.

Steven made it to the doors without incident, although Wallace was struck by an Ice Shard, causing a Poké Ball to drop to the ground- the one Poké Ball from which he did not release a Pokémon.

"Are you okay?" Flannery questioned Wallace as he joined her and Steven outside the building.

"I am fine," Wallace replied. "That attack did not hurt me."

Meanwhile, Sabrina and the others were being chased by the Hoenn Elite's Pokémon, which had stopped going after the other three. Will and Liza decided to teleport outside the building, but Sabrina refused to leave Tate and his parents, as well as Winona, all of whom could not teleport. Alakazam and Mr. Mime's barriers were very effective, and this allowed the five of them to gain quite a bit of ground towards the exit.

"Don't allow them to escape!" Sidney yelled.

As one of Glacia's Pokémon sent an Ice Beam towards Sabrina and the others, Alakazam stopped it with its barrier. Mr. Mime stopped a Hyper Beam coming their way. But while those Pokémon had to remain stationary, Winona, Tate and his parents kept on running towards the exit. They now had no protection from the attacks coming their way. Sabrina, meanwhile, remained with her Pokémon as they began to fight back against the attacking Pokémon.

"We're so close!" Tate shouted, as he and his parents ran towards the exit doors.

Tate and his parents managed to escape from some last attacks from the Elite's Pokémon, exiting the building. However, Winona tripped just short of reaching the doors, then looked up to see a Salamence standing right behind her, ready to attack her. She tried to get up, but she had hurt her legs from her fall, so she could not escape.

"What's this?" she wondered, seeing the Poké Ball Wallace had dropped.

She saw a marking on the Poké Ball that Wallace used on all of his Poké Balls, so she knew that it was his. She reached out and grabbed it, hoping to use whatever Pokémon was inside to defend her against the Salamence. However, no Pokémon came out.

"Huh?" she said, trying to figure out what was with the Poké Ball.

She then opened the Poké Ball, seeing what was inside. It was a beautiful golden ring, with many diamonds and, especially, sapphires- her favorite jewel. She knew what this meant- Wallace was planning to propose to her.

"Wallace," she cried, as she felt the Salamence let out its Dragonbreath on her.


	20. Brand New World

Chapter 20

Brand New World

Giselle and Joe rode Pidgeot into the land of Sinnoh. Not knowing exactly where they were supposed to go, they had Pidgeot fly towards the largest building they saw. That building, they figured, would be the Sinnoh League Headquarters; as it turned out, they were right.

"See, Joe," Giselle said, as the two of them walked towards the building, "I was right."

"Um, Giselle, I think it was me who suggested we fly toward the largest building," Joe commented.

"Good thing I have such a brilliant mind," Giselle continued, ignoring Joe's comment.

Giselle and Joe walked into the Sinnoh League Headquarters building. Once inside, they found some workers there who guided them to the Elite Four meeting room, where Sinnoh League Champion Cynthia was waiting for them.

"So, what did you mess up that you need me to fix?" Giselle asked rudely, with Joe stepping back and covering his face.

"I haven't messed up anything, for your information," Cynthia replied. "It's actually that the environment of our land is going out of control."

"Well, what have you called me here for?" Giselle responded irritably. "I don't control the weather!"

"That's not what I mean," Cynthia said. "It's that I know… I mean, I think that the weather changes are the result of the awakening of the legendary Pokémon Palkia."

"So you want me to put this Pokémon to sleep?" Giselle questioned.

"That's part of it," Cynthia answered. "But it's more than that. Obviously the Pokémon didn't just wake up on its own, somebody woke it up. And whoever that somebody is must be a person trying to cause trouble to our land."

"Okay, so you want me to put this Pokémon to sleep, and while I'm at it, find out who woke it up in the first place?" Giselle asked.

"That's it," Cynthia replied. "And I'll come to help you."

"Oh, I won't need any help," Giselle said with a smile. "When you're Pokémon League Champion like me, you can beat any Pokémon!"

"How good are you, really?" Cynthia asked wryly. "The Sinnoh League has been ruled ineligible for years for entering that tournament, so I did not have the opportunity of coming over to your tournament and possibly winning it."

"Want me to beat you right now?" Giselle asked.

All of a sudden, the ground shook. Joe caught Giselle as she nearly fell to the ground.

"This is what I mean," Cynthia said. "We don't have any time to battle. We have to find Palkia and stop it!"

"And do you have any idea where it is?" Giselle questioned.

"Yes, in fact, I do…" Cynthia responded.

----------

Steven, Flannery, Will, Wallace, Liza and her family were standing outside the Hoenn League Headquarters building. Will in particular was furious at Steven.

"What is with you?" Will asked Steven. "What was your idea in capturing Liza's family, then acting like you're the big hero by running out of there like that?"

"I can't explain right now," Steven replied. "What I must tell you is that Winona is in deep trouble."

Wallace immediately ran back towards the building. Will did not let up on Steven.

"What, are you lying to him in order for him to get attacked by those Pokémon?" Will asked. "I don't trust you one bit."

"It's not a trap," Steven responded.

Inside the building, Wallace found Winona lying on the ground, not moving. He immediately picked her off the ground and carried her out of the building, not knowing what had happened to her, as Sabrina's Pokémon had fought off the Pokémon which had attacked Winona, then created a barrier to protect her. As he carried her out of the building, he failed to notice one particular Poké Ball lying on the ground…

----------

Lt. Surge and Officer Jenny got off the S.S. Anne and found their way to Giovanni's office in the Olivine City jail.

"It's finally time, boss," Lt. Surge said. "We have everything you need to set up Team Rocket's empire."

Giovanni grinned. "At least I can count on you," he replied. "Our headquarters in Celadon City seem to no longer be functioning, and I sense something strange about Steven in Hoenn. It will not matter, however. We merely need to conquer Johto, and the rest will fall into place. I will begin to contact the Johto gym leaders who are on our side."

----------

Silver arrived in Goldenrod City, and he immediately went to visit Jasmine in the Goldenrod Hospital. He and Jasmine embraced each other warmly upon seeing each other again. Silver then looked closely at Jasmine's face, seeing a look of worry on her face.

"What is it?" he asked her.

"I have this awful feeling… like something bad is about to happen…" she replied.

"Don't worry," Silver assured her. "I'll do whatever I can to protect you."

"Look!" Gold shouted, pointing at a television that was in his hospital room.

The trainers looked at the television, seeing a horrible sight: giant Pokémon, ten times their normal size, standing in Olivine City, ready to destroy anything in sight.

"Oh boy," Silver sighed, ready to fight another battle, knowing the odds were against him.


	21. Blue

Chapter 21

Blue

The battle continued to rage inside the Hoenn League Headquarters. Eventually, however, Sabrina's Pokémon won out, and they all managed to knock out the Hoenn Elite's Pokémon.

"Now give up your fruitless cause," Sabrina declared to the four trainers.

The trainers just stared at Sabrina, not moving, not talking. Sabrina then realized that none of them were acting under their own control; they all had their minds being controlled by someone else. She thought of a solution to the problem.

"Mewtwo," she said, throwing out the Master Ball which contained her most powerful Pokémon, which she acquired when she turned on Team Rocket a while back.

"Yes, Sabrina?" Mewtwo asked her.

"Focus on those trainers' minds," Sabrina replied. "See if you can free them from whatever is controlling them."

Mewtwo began to use his psychokinesis on the trainers. After a few minutes, the trainers began to look at each other in confusion.

"What's going on?" Drake asked.

"What are we doing here- and what is that?" Glacia asked.

"Exactly as I thought," Sabrina said. "You four were put under mind control by Team Rocket, which is why you were fighting against me, and also why you kidnapped Liza and her family."

"What?" Phoebe shouted.

"It's a little hard to understand, but that's what occurred," Sabrina said.

"Sabrina's right," a familiar voice chimed in.

It was Steven, who had led Flannery, Will, Liza and her family back into the headquarters building.

"Giovanni put not only me but also the four of you under his mind control," Steven explained. "Since none of you are psychics, you lived almost as zombies, knowing nothing but wanting to do Team Rocket's work. I am a psychic, however, so I still had more control over my mind, yet not enough to be able to break away from Giovanni's hold on it."

"Steven was unable to break free of the mind control until he saw his longtime crush- Flannery," Liza said.

Flannery blushed. Steven gasped.

"You little blabbermouth!" he yelled at Liza. "If you're going to read my mind, don't just go around spouting off my secrets!"

"Oops…" Liza replied in embarrassment.

"Well, I think that solves things here," Will said. "Let's go check on Winona to make sure she's all right."

"Is she sick?" Sidney asked.

"She got injured in the battle that just took place," Will answered. "Your Pokémon are all lying here knocked out, after battling against us for a long time."

"Wow… we're sorry…" Glacia said.

"It's not your fault," Sabrina explained. "You had no control over what you were doing. Right now, you feel totally lost, but you'll feel back to normal in the next few hours… unfortunately I am very experienced in the field of mind control."

Everyone then left the headquarters building, heading off to see how Winona was doing.

----------

Silver, Jasmine, Whitney and Roxanne flew into Olivine City on Jasmine's Skarmory (with Gold still in the hospital). The four got off Skarmory and began to strategize on how to fight the giant Pokémon, of which there were six.

"Obviously, they're being controlled by someone," Silver reasoned. "If we could find who's controlling them, we could then have an easier time getting the Pokémon under control."

"Are you sure?" Roxanne asked. "Pokémon are wild by nature, and they-"

"It doesn't look like we have much of a choice!" Silver yelled, seeing a giant Charmeleon coming closer. "We have no chance trying to fight them!"

"Yes, but we can slow them down," Roxanne replied. "You go try to find the one behind this; I'll use my Rock Pokémon to fight them."

"My Miltank will be able to fight hard as well," Whitney chimed in. "You two go find the ones in charge of this operation."

Roxanne then sent out her Graveler, who sent a well-placed Fissure attack towards the six giant Pokémon. The Fissure attack caused the Pokémon to get their feet caught in the cracks of the ground, thus halting their advances against the city.

"Wow, you're something else!" Silver exclaimed.

"That's nothing," Roxanne said. "Now hurry up and get going, while Whitney and I knock out these Pokémon."

Grabbing Jasmine's hand, Silver took off for a certain spot in Olivine City, where he had a hunch would be the place to look for the Team Rocket members behind the operation.

----------

Giselle and Joe followed Cynthia outside, where they boarded Giselle's Pidgeot. Cynthia then told Giselle where to direct Pidgeot.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Giselle asked, while Joe covered his face in embarrassment.

"I think I know this land a little better than you do," Cynthia replied.

Pidgeot continued to fly until it reached a mountain peak, where Cynthia told Giselle to have Pidgeot land.

"Okay, now what?" Giselle asked, as she got off Pidgeot, seeing no one around.

"You sure are impatient," Cynthia replied. "Come this way."

Joe and Giselle followed Cynthia towards a cave. They slowly walked in, with Giselle gasping.

"Ah, it's you," Cyrus said.

Cyrus was surrounded by a bunch of minions, wearing strange, futuristic-looking uniforms. They all were working with various scientific devices.

"Thank you for funding my research," Cyrus said to Giselle. "You know, without your decision to help us out, the citizens of Sinnoh wouldn't be in danger of being wiped out when the legendary Pokémon Palkia unleashes his fury. We'll be safe in this cave, as our scientists have helped create a safe barrier for us, but the rest of Sinnoh will be gone."

Cynthia gave Giselle an angry stare, while Giselle began to actually become unconfident for the first time in months.

----------

Wallace was in Winona's hospital room in Lilycove City, while the other trainers had not arrived yet. He looked at Winona with concern, when he saw her open her eyes.

"Winona!" he exclaimed.

"You idiot," Winona said weakly.

Wallace was confused. _She must still be groggy,_ he thought.

"How could you- how could you…" Winona continued to say, having trouble speaking.

"Winona, I'm here for you," Wallace said, grabbing her hand.

"How could you… spend all that money on me?" Winona asked.

Wallace looked surprised, then reached for the Poké Ball containing her ring, noticing it was gone.

"You know that's not what I care about," she continued.

"So… will you?" Wallace asked.

Winona simply smiled. "Of course," she whispered. She then closed her eyes and went to sleep, with Wallace feeling a rush of emotion like he had never felt before.

----------

Silver continued to walk with Jasmine, as he thought that the best place to go was the Olivine City jail, where he figured his father Giovanni was in control of the operation.

"Um… Silver?" Jasmine asked.

"Yes?" Silver responded.

"Is someone… following us?" she asked.

Silver looked around, then noticed a shadow coming from behind a tree.

"Who is it?" he yelled, as he sent out his Sneasel for protection.

A girl then stepped forward, but not the girl Silver expected to see. Instead of seeing Janine ready to kill him, he saw a very familiar girl, but in an unfamiliar costume- a Team Rocket uniform.

"Blue?" Silver asked.

"Silver!" Blue exclaimed, running towards him and glomping him.

Jasmine looked at Silver and Blue in confusion. Who was this girl, and why was she so affectionate towards Silver?

"Oh, it's so good to see you, Silver," Blue said.

"Jasmine, this is my longtime friend, Blue," Silver explained.

"Also girlfriend and soul mate," Blue said, finishing Silver's sentence, but not the way he wanted it.

Jasmine simply stared at the ground. It was anyone's guess what was going through her mind, but it was clear that she was not happy.

"So, Silver, I see you still have Sneasel… you two always made a great stealing team," Blue said.

"Um... yeah, about that," Silver began to say.

"You know," Blue cut Silver off, "I found out that Team Rocket was the best place to go for tramps like us. We may have had no future as abandoned children living at a foster facility, but we always knew the one route to overcome our status was through stealing using our Pokémon and our stealth. A member of Team Rocket saw my skills in stealing and recruited me, and now I'm making lots of money. What about you, Silver? I heard you wanted to use your stealing skills to become a great Pokémon trainer and enter the Pokémon League tournament… how's that going?"

Silver looked away in embarrassment. Sure, he had told Jasmine about his past before, in fact the first time he met her. But the very reminder of what his life had been like before tore him up inside. And what would Jasmine think about this other girl who had been close to him in the past?

"What's the matter, Silver?" Blue asked. "You never make it very far?"

"I can't believe this is how our lives went," Silver responded. "I never imagined you'd be working for the very organization which is the very reason for all the problems in my life."

"Huh?" Blue wondered.

"I'm sorry, Blue," Silver said, walking over to Jasmine and grabbing her hand. "Meeting Jasmine was the best thing that ever happened to me. She's my role model, my best friend. She's shown me that life is not all about money and power, and she's helped me through my worst times. Her city has been targeted by Team Rocket, and because of that, I must fight against Team Rocket."

Jasmine looked up at Silver and smiled. Blue, however, looked at Silver with disgust.

"You've turned soft," Blue muttered. "The Silver I knew and loved would have never been like this. I can't believe it."

Silver just began to walk away from Blue, with Jasmine by his side.

"No, you're not just leaving me again!" Blue yelled at Silver. "You don't know how much it hurt for you to split away from me, because you hoped to use your scavenging skills as a trainer, rather than simply as a burglar. If that's how it's going to be, I'm going to have to fight you."

Silver sighed. "Please, Blue," he pleaded. "Don't take this personally."

"Too late!" Blue yelled. She threw out a Poké Ball, ready to begin battle against her childhood friend.


	22. The Real Folk Blues

Chapter 22

The Real Folk Blues

Out of Blue's thrown Poké Ball came a Blastoise. Silver's Sneasel immediately jumped in front of the Blastoise, ready to fight.

"Blastoise, use Hydro Pump!" Blue yelled.

"Sneasel, Slash back!" Silver commanded.

As Sneasel went to slash at Blastoise, a flood of water came from Blastoise's water cannons, pushing Sneasel backwards. Sneasel shook off the water, then came charging back at Blastoise, ready to slash. However, right as Sneasel went to slash Blastoise, the turtle Pokémon jumped into its shell. Blastoise then rolled into Sneasel, knocking it over.

"Wow!" Silver exclaimed. "When did you become so good at training?"

"It's just been hard work and lots of battles," Blue answered. "No one ever gave me a chance, so I've had to make my own breaks."

Blastoise jumped out of its shell and blasted Sneasel with more water. Sneasel stumbled backwards, beginning to weaken. Jasmine nervously looked on, but Silver was confident.

"Come on, Sneasel, use your speed to your advantage," Silver said.

Sneasel then began running in circles around Blastoise, who became very confused. Sneasel occasionally jumped at Blastoise and slashed him, as Blastoise had little time to react to the fast-moving Sneasel. After a few small slashes, Sneasel finally got the big slash that it took to knock out Blastoise.

"Blastoise, return!" Blue called, appearing ready to send out another Pokémon.

"Blue, what is the point of this?" Silver asked. "What is really bothering you?"

Blue turned her face away from Silver. "It's just…" She paused.

"Oh, come on now, the Blue I know wouldn't cry," Silver said.

Blue looked at Silver, with tears in her eyes. "I had always hoped that you were the one for me," she explained. "I've searched for you for a long time, and I couldn't find you. I never wanted you to go! What was so important about becoming a great trainer, anyway?"

"Uh, Blue…" Silver started to say.

"Joining Team Rocket was all about you," Blue continued. "One night, when trying to steal some food in the Goldenrod underground, I heard some Team Rocket members talking about how their boss had a son named Silver. I thought that maybe you had found your father and were going to join him. I joined Team Rocket just to be with you!"

Silver looked stunned. He had been good friends with Blue most of his life, but never did he actually think that Blue had developed such strong feelings for him. Jasmine, meanwhile, stood silently, not knowing what to say or think.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" Silver stuttered, trying to think of something to say to Blue.

"No!" Blue screamed. "You're not leaving me again!"

Blue lunged over to Silver, throwing her arms around his neck, holding on to him tight. Silver tried wiggling free from her grasp, when he saw a most frightening sight.

A shuriken. Blood flying through the air. And a girl collapsing to the ground.

----------

Sabrina led the entire bunch of Hoenn trainers, as well as her own boyfriend Will, towards Winona's hospital room, which Wallace was just leaving.

"She's all right," Wallace told the trainers.

"I told you!" Liza yapped at Sabrina. "We were just wasting our time!"

Sabrina ignored Liza's taunt. "As we speak, Team Rocket is about to carry out their secondary plan in Hoenn. Their first plan was to control Hoenn by controlling your minds," she explained. "Their second plan… is to destroy it, completely."

"How?" Will asked.

"I had a premonition that they have a group of their minions are going to the Sky Tower in an attempt to wake up Rayquaza," Sabrina said. "They will then attempt to get Rayquaza to destroy the land."

Will sighed. "You and your predictions," he complained. "Can't we have a break from battling?"

"Sure, and allow Team Rocket to get what they want," Sabrina replied sarcastically. "We must get our Pokémon to the Pokémon Center and then get to the Sky Tower as quickly as possible."

The other trainers simply followed Sabrina's instructions, figuring that she knew what was going on better than they did.

----------

"What did you do?" Cynthia angrily asked Giselle.

"I… I…" Giselle stuttered, trying to remember. "Oh… that's right." She cracked a slight smile.

"What?!" Cynthia demanded.

"It wasn't me who gave this loser permission to do this, it was the Elite Four!" Giselle exclaimed. "It's not my fault!"

"So it wasn't," Cyrus said. "But no matter whose decision it was, you're about to regret it."

Cyrus then motioned to three of his commanders.

"Mars! Jupiter! Saturn!" he called. "It is time to wake up Palkia!"

"You're not making it out of this cave," Giselle said, pulling out a Poké Ball.

Cyrus and his commanders, however, suddenly disappeared.

"What happened?" Giselle asked in confusion.

"They stepped on those warp pads," Joe answered. "Come on, we've got to find where they went!"

Giselle, Joe and Cynthia rushed out of the cave. They climbed up the mountain further, then found the Cyrus and his commanders standing in front of some ruins.

"By placing this orb here I will be able to wake up Palkia," Cyrus said.

As Cyrus was about to place the orb in the spot he wanted to put it, he was blasted by a Hydro Pump attack from Giselle's Starmie.

"You're not going to carry out your plan!" shouted Giselle, who had let all of her Pokémon out of their Poké Balls.

"We'll see about that," Cyrus replied, throwing the orb to Mars.

Mars looked confused, after suddenly grabbing the orb. She then was knocked on the head with Cubone's Bonemerang attack, dropping the orb.

"Get that!" Saturn yelled.

Jupiter rushed over and picked up the orb, then attempted to pass it to Saturn. However, Giselle's Raichu jumped up and intercepted the orb.

"Don't let it get away!" Cyrus yelled.

Jupiter and Saturn chased after Raichu, which ran around the top of the mountain frantically.

"They'll never catch Raichu," Giselle laughed.

"They have other options, though…" Cynthia warned.

Jupiter and Saturn both sent out Bronzors after Giselle's Raichu. The Bronzors shot Shadow Balls at Raichu, causing it to drop the orb. The two commanders then ran after the orb.

"Great," Giselle muttered. "Get them, Exeggutor!"

Exeggutor blasted a Solarbeam attack at Saturn. Saturn's Bronzor floated in front of the attack, absorbing most of it without taking too much damage. Saturn then grabbed the orb and passed it to Jupiter. Jupiter, however, found herself surrounded by several of Giselle's Pokémon. She threw the orb towards Mars desperately.

"I've got it!" Mars shouted.

Mars, however, only tipped the orb. Giselle's Graveler caught the orb, then attempted to escape with it. However, Cyrus had sent out his Gyarados, which slammed Graveler with its Aqua Tail attack, causing it to drop the orb. Cyrus then quickly rushed over and grabbed the orb.

"Finally," he said, as he placed the orb in the spot he wanted to place it in the first place.

Giselle, Joe and Cynthia looked on as a giant purple sphere began to appear in the middle of the ruins. Even the commanders looked fearful as they saw Palkia appear in the middle of the sphere.

"This is it," Cyrus said, rubbing his hands together with glee.

"This is jeopardy," Joe groaned, worried about what was about to occur.


	23. Never Die Young

Chapter 23

Never Die Young

Silver rushed to the aid of the fallen girl, with a feeling of utter panic.

"Blue?" he screamed. "Are you okay?"

"Silver!" Jasmine cried. "Look!"

Silver looked up to see Janine partially hidden behind a tree, looking ready to throw something.

"We need some protection… go, Kadabra!" Silver said.

Kadabra came flying out of its Poké Ball.

"Kadabra, put up a barrier around us!" Silver told his Pokémon.

Kadabra quickly put up an invisible barrier around Silver, Jasmine, Blue and itself, stopping Janine's second thrown shuriken from hitting the trainers.

"I missed," Janine muttered to herself, not even caring about the fact that she had hit Blue. "I'd better run off before they see me."

Janine escaped, while Silver tried to tend to Blue.

"Blue?" Silver asked again.

Blue looked up at Silver slowly. "It wasn't meant to be…" she mumbled. Then she closed her eyes in death.

"Blue!" Silver yelled in desperation. He then realized that was the end for Blue. Jasmine tried comforting Silver on the loss of his childhood friend.

----------

Sabrina led Will, Liza and Tate out of the Lilycove City hospital, where Winona was rehabilitating.

"Why is it always that we have to be the heroes around here?" Will asked Sabrina.

"It was my choice not to have those other trainers accompany us," Sabrina replied. "We don't need their help."

"Plus Sabrina likes it better being around fewer people when she's with you, Will," Liza added.

Sabrina gave Liza an angry glare for revealing her thoughts, while Will cracked a smile.

"So why are we walking anyway?" Tate asked.

Sabrina stopped in her tracks. "Because you can't teleport," she told him.

"Liza says it's easy… let me try," Tate said.

"Apparently Liza is some hotshot psychic who thinks everything is easy," Will complained. "It hasn't been easy for me."

"It shouldn't be difficult," Sabrina replied. "Just focus your mind on the Sky Tower…"

The four psychics then all disappeared, as they teleported to the Sky Tower.

----------

Giselle gasped as she saw the legendary Pokémon Palkia appear before Cyrus. Palkia appeared to be angry, as it seemed to be building up some sort of power for an attack.

"Cubone! Starmie! Quick, attack Palkia!" Giselle yelled.

"No, don't!" Cynthia shouted.

It was too late, however, as Cubone threw its Bonemerang at Palkia, while Starmie blasted Palkia with water. This only enraged Palkia more, which turned to face Giselle's Pokémon.

"Now you've got Palkia angry at your Pokémon!" Cynthia screamed at Giselle. "It's going to attack them first!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Giselle responded. "If that thing even unleashes an attack, we're all dead!"

Cyrus and his commanders then started to run towards the cave entrance, as their warp pads were only one-way pads, not capable of taking them back inside the cave.

"Oh, no you don't!" Giselle shouted. "Graveler, stop them!"

Graveler rolled over to the cave entrance and blocked Cyrus and his commanders from entering.

"Okay, we give up," Mars said. "We'll allow you three to come in our cave and escape Palkia's attack."

"That's a good idea," a nervous Joe told Giselle. "Let's go in there."

"We refuse your offer," Giselle told Mars. "If you chose to unleash Palkia, then you've got to also take its attacks."

Cyrus's commanders looked around in panic, while Cyrus simply crossed his arms, watching Palkia continue to charge up an apparent attack.

"If my research is correct, Palkia will destroy this land of Sinnoh, but not us here in close range," he said.

"We'll see about that," Giselle replied. "Starmie and Exeggutor, use Psychic… Cubone, you dig a hole, and Raichu, use Thunder."

Cyrus laughed. "You really think your pathetic Pokémon can combine their attacks and defeat Palkia?" he asked. "You are delusional, then."

"We'll see," Giselle responded.

Cubone dug a hole, while Raichu shot a lightning bolt at Palkia. The legendary Pokémon became even more enraged, and this time, began to unleash its Spacial Rend attack. However, Starmie and Exeggutor both were able to prevent the attack from going anywhere due to their Psychic attacks. Then Cubone jumped up out of the ground, clubbing Palkia on the head. This allowed Raichu to shoot more electricity at Palkia, and Cubone and Raichu's combined attacks managed to knock out the legendary Pokémon.

"Good job!" Giselle called to her Pokémon.

Cyrus stood silent, in utter disbelief. "How… how is that possible?" he asked.

Giselle simply smiled. "You're dealing with the Pokémon League Champion here, that's how," she answered him.

Cynthia, meanwhile, rushed over and picked up the orb that Cyrus had used to wake up Palkia. When she picked up the orb, Palkia instantly disappeared.

"Where did it go?" Joe asked.

"Into another dimension of space," Cynthia responded. "This orb must not be used for this purpose again."

"Cubone can take care of that," Giselle said. "Come over here, Cubone!"

Cubone rushed over and clubbed the orb, smashing it into pieces.

"No… all our research…" Cyrus muttered.

"Now, as for you… what shall we do with them, Cynthia?" Giselle asked.

"I'll call the Sinnoh police and get them to come here… it will take a while, but there will be no escape for them," Cynthia responded, pulling out her cell phone.

"Stupid Graveler…" Cyrus complained, staring at the Pokémon who stopped him and his commanders from escaping, as Cynthia called the police to come to the mountain.


	24. One Week

Chapter 24

One Week

Roxanne and Whitney began to celebrate. Thanks to Roxanne's Graveler stopping the giant Pokémon with its Fissure attack, the two trainers had managed to finally knock out all six giant Pokémon with their own Pokémon.

"That was too easy," Roxanne said.

"That's what I'm afraid of," Whitney replied.

Silver and Jasmine noticed that the giant Pokémon had been stopped, so they escaped with the late Blue on Jasmine's Skarmory back to Goldenrod City, where Roxanne and Whitney were headed back towards.

----------

The four psychics all appeared several stories up on the Sky Tower. Sabrina was impressed by Tate, who had successfully pulled off his first teleportation.

_I told you it wasn't that hard,_ Liza telepathically told Tate.

Will rolled his eyes, not very fond of the showing off Liza and Tate were doing.

_We're about to be joined,_ Sabrina told the others.

About a minute later, four people walked up some stairs toward the psychics. They were former Team Magma and Aqua members Maxie, Archie, Shelly and Tabitha.

"Who are you?" Maxie asked. "And what are you doing here?"

"I should ask you the same question," Sabrina replied.

"It doesn't matter," Archie said. "Just walk right past them and move on."

"You're not going any farther," Sabrina responded. "I know why you're here- to attempt to wake up Rayquaza in a bizarre plan of Team Rocket's."

"How do you know that?" Shelly asked.

"She's apparently psychic or something… I remember Flannery battling against her in the Pokémon League tournament…" Tabitha mused.

"I told you to forget about that girl!" Maxie yelled at Tabitha.

"Don't you understand how you're just being used as pawns by Giovanni?" Sabrina asked the Team Magma and Aqua members.

"We're going to be rewarded if we pull this off," Archie answered.

"No, you're not!" Sabrina snapped, angry at the Team Magma and Aqua members' stupidity. "By waking that Pokémon, you'll be the first ones to die! Don't you remember what happened in Lilycove City?"

All four of the non-psychics paused, completely silent, remembering what had occurred in Lilycove City some time ago.

Shelly looked at Sabrina with shock and fear. "You- you weren't at Lilycove… how do you… how…" she stuttered.

"I'm telling you, she's psychic," Tabitha told Shelly. "I'm beginning to think I was better off back when I wasn't around you fools."

Maxie looked at the ground solemnly. He remembered how one of his great friends, Courtney, had been killed in the battle between Kyogre and Groudon, not to mention many others of his friends. "How could we be so stupid?" Maxie asked himself. "We promised never to do this again, and here we are, repeating our mistakes."

Archie nodded his head. "I thought we learned from the incident at Lilycove, but we felt like we owed something to Giovanni for his breaking us out of jail," he said. "We can't do this."

"We give up," Shelly told Sabrina. "Just please let us off the hook."

"Sure," Sabrina replied with a smile. "I've been in your situation before… I know what it's like to repeat my mistakes."

As the four walked away, the psychics overheard Tabitha saying something about trying to make up with Flannery, who they knew was currently being courted by Steven…

----------

Lt. Surge and Officer Jenny went to visit Giovanni in his "cell," who looked to be in a furious mood.

"When are we going to fully use these giant Pokémon?" Lt. Surge asked.

"How about a little patience, Surge?" Giovanni replied angrily. "Don't you realize how badly our plans are going?"

"Well, no…" Lt. Surge answered.

"Exactly!" Giovanni yelled. "Understand something. A bunch of those good-hearted softie trainers, including my nemesis Sabrina, have been foiling our plans all over the place. Our Kanto operations? Completely destroyed. Our Hoenn plans? Utterly ruined. Our Sinnoh plot? Absolutely spoiled. All we've got left is these giant Pokémon, and apparently sending out only several of them at a time isn't going to work, as those losers managed to even knock them out!"

"What can we do?" Officer Jenny asked.

"Well, for one thing, you can stop bothering me for now!" Giovanni screamed. "Come back here in one week… our Johto strategy is on hiatus until then. Hopefully seven days will give those soft trainers like my son a false sense of security, and they'll stop working together like they have. Then we can still come through with the best part of our plan."

"Okay," Lt. Surge said. He then left the room with Jenny, closing the door behind him.

"How does he know all of this?" Jenny asked Surge.

"I think he's psychic or something," Surge replied. "He gained new powers since the Silph incident some time ago. I know that if we send out all those giant Pokémon at once, there's going to be mass destruction, and we'll certainly eliminate many of those who oppose us. But apparently Giovanni wants to wait for the most opportune moment to attack, and I can't blame him."

----------

A day passed, and the Johto trainers had met back at Goldenrod Hospital in Gold's room, wondering why all the television reports were not giving any news about Team Rocket.

"Could we have… stopped them?" Whitney wondered.

"I seriously doubt that," Silver replied. "But I don't understand why nothing has happened since you took out those giant Pokémon."

Gold sighed. "I can only hope nothing happens until I'm better again… whenever that may be," he said sadly.

"Cheer up," Whitney told him. "You're going to get better, it's just going to take some time."

"It could be worse… a lot worse," Silver said, looking out the window. He could see a graveyard, the very one where Blue had just been buried… then he covered his face with his right hand, as his eyes began to water.


	25. Birthday

Chapter 25

Birthday

After convincing the Team Magma and Aqua members to abandon their plans, Sabrina could no longer sense any plans of Team Rocket's. Although she had the feeling that Giovanni still had something up his sleeve, she was exhausted. Her initial attempt to help out in Johto had turned into something much grander, where she had been forced into somewhat of a super-hero role. Since she was the strongest psychic in the land, she basically had the responsibility of protecting not only herself and her friends, but everyone around her as well. All this came as a distaste to the usually reserved Sabrina, who preferred to live a relaxed life at her mansion in Saffron City. That was where she was headed, no matter what threat Team Rocket would come up with. After all, her birthday was tomorrow, and she finally just wanted a day for herself.

"Can we come with you?" Liza asked Sabrina.

Sabrina sighed. This was when she hated having psychic friends; Liza already knew that she wanted time to relax, so there was no way to weasel her way out of having Liza come along.

"Okay, you can come," Sabrina replied. "What about Tate?"

"He's staying home with my parents," Liza said. "And don't worry- I won't bother you."

Sabrina rolled her eyes, knowing that the chatterbox Liza had little intention of leaving her alone.

"Let's go!" Liza exclaimed.

Sabrina, Will and Liza teleported back to Sabrina's large house in Saffron City, arriving in the living room, where Sabrina's parents were surprised to see them.

"How have you been?" Mrs. Saffron asked Sabrina.

"Busy," Sabrina answered. "But everything's all right now."

Will then pulled Sabrina aside.

_I'm going to go home and get some sleep,_ the masked psychic telepathically told Sabrina. _I'll see you tomorrow._

_That's fine,_ Sabrina replied. _But make sure you see me tomorrow… you know why…_

Will nodded, then began to walk towards the door.

"Aren't you going to teleport?" Liza asked Will tauntingly.

"Uh… no… I want to… um…" Will said, struggling to block Sabrina from reading his mind.

"Oh, I see," Liza replied, thinking that she could read Will's mind. "You're too weak to teleport!"

"You know what, I'm sick of you always making fun of me!" Will said playfully to Liza.

"Oh, I'm only joking… can I come over to your place tonight?" Liza asked Will.

"Sure, I guess…" Will said.

The two of them walked out the door, leaving Sabrina with her parents.

"What was that about?" Mr. Saffron asked.

"I don't know…" Sabrina said sadly.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Mr. Saffron responded to Sabrina. "You probably could tell me every conversation we've had since you were away, yet you can't read his mind?"

Sabrina sighed. "Will's blocking me from reading his mind," she explained. "Something's bothering him, and he doesn't want me to know. I wish I could help him, but he probably is too embarrassed to ask for my help."

"Have you been fighting with him?" Mrs. Saffron asked.

"No, it's not that at all," Sabrina answered. "We've become so close… I sometimes wish he would propose to me… but I don't know if he's ready to do that. It's times like these when I can't figure him out… he's struggling, but he doesn't want me to know."

Meanwhile, Liza walked with Will down a street in Saffron City.

"Come on, stop blocking me from reading your thoughts…" Liza pleaded with Will. "What are you thinking about?"

"If you're going to bother me, you should just stay at Sabrina's place," Will snapped. "Besides, this is supposed to be a secret."

"Ooh, a secret!" Liza exclaimed. "Come on, tell me it!"

"No," Will replied. "You'll just go and give it away."

"I promise not to," Liza said. "Will, just let me know!"

"All right, all right," Will sighed. "Tomorrow's Sabrina's 21st birthday, and I want to get her a present… a special present."

"Which is…?" Liza asked.

Will looked down for a moment, worried about giving away the secret to Liza. "An engagement ring," he answered.

"Wow! You want to propose to Sabrina! Wait till I tell-" Liza exclaimed.

Will put his hand over Liza's mouth. "You're not telling anyone, okay?" he told her. "This is a secret, remember?"

"Right," Liza responded.

"Here's the problem: I don't have very much money… I'm not exactly rich, you know," Will explained. "But Sabrina lives in that mansion… she deserves a really beautiful ring… I don't know how to pay for one."

"I wish I could help…" Liza said. "But my parents aren't exactly that rich either."

"I understand," Will replied. "Maybe I'll be able to find a jeweler that will be very sympathetic on payment."

Will and Liza began to visit various stores around Saffron City. However, Will was unable to find anything he considered to be beautiful enough for Sabrina. Finally, though, he found a jewelry store run by the parents of James, formerly of Team Rocket.

"How can we help you?" James's mother asked.

"I'd like to buy that ring," Will said.

"That one?" James's father replied, looking at a large ring complete with saffron-colored jewels.

"Yes," Will answered. "How much is it?"

"Well, you're looking at a cost of ¥1000000…" James's father told Will.

Will looked down at the ground in disappointment.

"Is that too much?" Liza asked Will sarcastically.

"Please, allow me to pay you in the future," Will pleaded with James's father. "I'll pay all of it if I just have some time."

James's father looked stern. "You sound like my son," he said. "He's irresponsible with his money, and that's why I have a strict up-front payment policy here. If you don't have the money now, you can't have it."

Will sighed. "I understand," he said, walking with Liza out of the store.

"What are you going to do now?" Liza asked. "It's getting late."

"I know, I know," Will said. "I don't know what to get Sabrina for her birthday."

"Flowers?" Liza asked.

"I don't know… Sabrina's never seemed to me to be a 'flowers' girl… and besides, she'd think I was being cheap," Will replied.

"Well, it's even cheaper to get her nothing," Liza told Will.

"Yeah, I know, all right?" a frustrated Will said. "I'll think of something."

The next day, Will went to Sabrina's house empty-handed. Sabrina welcomed him inside.

"You know you can just teleport in," Sabrina told Will. "I trust you."

"Oh, all right," Will responded.

There was a long pause, with both Sabrina and Will trying to read each other's minds, but neither allowing the other to know what he or she was thinking about.

"Um… happy birthday," Will nervously said to Sabrina.

Sabrina looked upset. "Will, what's wrong?" she asked. "I know something's bothering you, and I want to know what it is. If you just told me, that would be all I want from you for my birthday."

Will gave a deep breath. "Sabrina… I've realized how important you are to me. I tried so hard to buy you something to show you how much you mean to me, but there's nothing I could afford," he said.

"It's okay," Sabrina responded. "I don't care about physical gifts."

"But you deserve one… a special one…" Will replied. "Especially if-"

Sabrina reached her hand over to Will's mask. "Just tell me… why do you wear the mask?" she asked him.

"It's from my childhood, as I was an orphan, raised by a strange man known as the Mask of Ice," Will answered. "He gave me this mask to wear, telling me that I should not show my face to anyone I do not trust. I've kept it ever since."

"Do you trust me?" Sabrina asked.

Will did not answer, prompting Sabrina to read his thoughts.

"You're scared of me, of something I might say," she said. "There's no reason for that, Will. You can totally trust me… I love you, Will."

Will slowly took his mask off. He then reached out and placed the mask in Sabrina's hands.

"Sabrina, I have no ring to give you, so please accept this mask," he told her. "Will you marry me?"

Sabrina gave Will a warm smile. "Yes," she said softly, before giving him a long kiss.

_Happy birthday,_ Will telepathically told Sabrina during the kiss.

_This is better than any present I could have imagined,_ Sabrina replied telepathically.

Liza then teleported in. "Hey, everybody! Sabrina and Will just got engaged!" she shouted.

Sabrina's parents then came rushing down the stairs to congratulate the happy couple.


	26. Torn

Chapter 26

Torn

It was three days after the Johto trainers arrived back at Goldenrod City from fighting off the giant Pokémon in Olivine City. Roxanne had found a Pidgeot flying service that allowed her to fly back to Rustboro City in Hoenn. Meanwhile, Jasmine and Silver were staying at Whitney's house while Gold was still in the hospital. Jasmine woke up late and walked out into the living room, looking for Silver, but he was not around. Whitney sat alone on the couch, looking dumbfounded over Silver's location.

"He was gone when I woke up this morning," Whitney told Jasmine. "The door to his room was wide open, and he wasn't in his room… I have no idea where he could be."

"Oh, Silver…" Jasmine sighed, rushing out of the house.

Whitney watched Jasmine run off, wondering where she could be going. To her, Jasmine's affixation with Silver made no sense. She knew Jasmine for a long time. Jasmine was the very personification of innocence and purity in Johto. She was mature beyond her years, while somehow always seeming smarter simply by not speaking. Why, then, was Jasmine so attached to Silver?

_It must be physical attraction,_ Whitney thought. _That has to be it._

But that _couldn't_ be it. If there was any girl in the Pokémon world who would see through a guy's appearance and into his heart, Jasmine was the one. But if it wasn't physical attraction, what else could it be? Did Jasmine simply just feel bad for Silver and want to help him?

_As good of a heart as Jasmine has, she still wouldn't go out with Silver just to help him through his problems_, Whitney thought. _She'd be smarter than that._

So what was it? And why did it matter to her, anyway? Whitney began to feel bad about possibly being critical of her friend, but she realized that it was all about looking out for Jasmine's best interests. Roxanne had told her about what had happened when she was with a malicious boyfriend. Whitney certainly didn't want to see that happen to Jasmine. And if Silver was about to do something hurtful to Jasmine, she couldn't just sit still and watch as her friend fell into his trap, could she?

_What's there to worry about?_ Whitney thought. _Silver's a little rough around the edges, but he isn't that bad, is he?_

But Whitney began to think about it more. She had heard all Silver had been talking about lately. His words were words of a madman, of a lunatic. Maybe it wasn't his fault, but according to him, his childhood friend had been killed, his life is in constant danger, and he feels as if Jasmine is his only hope. He lived a life as a criminal, then began a wayward trainer, then suddenly showed signs of kindness after meeting Jasmine. All of this didn't make sense to Whitney. What was Silver rambling on about all the time? Something about a ninja wanting to kill him, something about having to face his father for Jasmine's sake. Was this really the truth? Or was Silver simply setting the bait for a trap, which would end up hurting Jasmine badly?

_I don't know about this Silver… I never liked him, but now he seems flat-out crazy,_ Whitney thought. _He's been accused of murder before, he has a father who's our worst enemy, and he's saying his friend was just killed._

All these things began to get Whitney extremely worried. She got up from her couch and left her house, determined to find Jasmine and stop her from putting herself into possible harm.

----------

Jasmine had run all around Goldenrod City by this point. She was totally exhausted, trying to catch her breath. She had not seen Silver anywhere. Certainly the place she expected to find him was Blue's graveyard, but he was not there. And he wouldn't be visiting Gold in the hospital, as visiting hours for the day had not begun yet. It was pretty obvious to her that there was a good possibility that he had left the city, but where could he have gone? And why was he on the run? After thinking about it for a little while, she left the city running in the direction of Olivine City, figuring that she had the best chance of finding him by going this way.

_Silver… why?_ she asked silently.

She continued her sprint in the direction of Olivine City, when she pulled out a Poké Ball.

"Eevee, help me," she said, sending out her Eevee.

Eevee began to sniff around, trying to find Silver's scent, which it knew very well. It then began to dash ahead suddenly, so Jasmine followed it. After about a couple minutes of running, Jasmine noticed a figure standing ahead of her, which looked quite familiar.

"Silver!" she screamed.

She rushed towards Silver, who looked downcast. As she met him, she threw her arms around him. Silver gave no response to her.

"Silver, what's wrong? Why did you run off?" Jasmine asked him.

Silver sighed. "Jasmine, for your sake, it might be best if we don't see each other for a while," he told her.

Jasmine looked at Silver in shock. Was he breaking up with her?

"Blue was killed for being around me, and I'm afraid you'll be next," Silver explained. "I feel responsible for her death, and I wouldn't be able to live with the burden of yours as well."

"But…" Jasmine muttered.

"Jasmine, you mean so much to me…" Silver continued. "I want to protect you, and the only way I can do that is by eliminating those who want me dead- that ninja Janine and my own father."

Jasmine did not know what to say. Silver was doing this with the full intention of trying to protect her, yet she did not want to be separated from him.

"I have to go now," Silver told her. "If I don't destroy those two, we're never going to be able to fulfill our dreams."

"Please…" Jasmine said silently. "Don't leave me."

"I don't want to," Silver replied. "But for your sake, I must. Please, Jasmine, allow me to take care of you."

He reached out and touched Jasmine's chin, then the two shared a kiss.

"I must go now," Silver said.

At that moment, Whitney came running over towards the couple.

"What's going on?" Whitney demanded.

"I'm going to leave Jasmine for a while, so I can kill those who hunt me," Silver answered.

_He is crazy_, Whitney thought. _He's hurting Jasmine and going nuts at the same time._

"What's the matter with you?" Whitney yelled at Silver. "Don't you care a bit about Jasmine? Or have you totally lost it?"

"I'm trying to protect her," Silver responded. "It's all for her good."

"Do you even know what you are saying?" Whitney shouted. "You're crazy!"

"I don't understand," Silver replied.

"You have lost your mind!" Whitney screamed. "You have been rambling about a friend being killed, about a ninja hunting you, about having to face your father. You've somehow tricked Jasmine into thinking you're a nice guy, but you're really just a lunatic!"

"You know what," an angry Silver replied, "you remind me a lot of that boyfriend of yours. You think you're some sort of hero, when you really aren't anything more than just an inferior trainer!"

"I'm starting to think that you may be behind some of these murders that have occurred!" Whitney yelled back. "The rest of us live in a normal world, while you live in some fantasy world with ninjas chasing you and a rivalry with your father!"

"Guess what?" the furious Silver argued. "That fantasy world and your 'normal' world are about to clash if I don't do something about it! I only hope that I can stop my enemies before they manage to kill me, or Jasmine!"

Jasmine looked at the arguing trainers in hopelessness, unable to speak her mind. After watching the two scream at each other for several more minutes, she finally reached out her hand and grabbed Silver's right hand. Silver stopped yelling at Whitney and looked at Jasmine.

"Silver, I want to go with you," she said.

"I don't want you to be killed by being around me, though," Silver replied. "Please, stay here where you'll be safe."

"Why is my life more important than yours?" Jasmine asked. "Why should you risk your life just for my safety? I'm willing to risk mine for yours as well… your life means just as much as mine does."

Silver did not know how to respond to Jasmine's comment. He couldn't bear the thought of Jasmine being killed the same way Blue was, but Jasmine seemed insistent.

"I want you to be happy," Silver said. "You may come along."

Jasmine smiled at Silver. Silver then turned away from Whitney and began to walk away with Jasmine.

"Jasmine, be careful!" Whitney called to Jasmine. "I don't trust Silver… don't let him hurt you!"

"He won't," Jasmine quietly replied.

Whitney turned around and started back towards Goldenrod City. All she wanted to do was protect her friend… and apparently that was all Silver wanted too. As much as she worried about Jasmine being put in danger by Silver, she had a feeling Jasmine would be all right, so she stopped her protest and headed back home. She could only hope that her gut feeling was right.


	27. It's All In Your Mind

Chapter 27

It's All in Your Mind

The girl finished eating her meal in her hotel room, then quickly gathered a few of her belongings. She then swiftly walked to the front desk, handed over her room key, and slipped out the front door. She then walked towards the forest, in her usual quick and quiet way.

She was Janine- on the outside, a normal traveler in the land of Johto; but on the inside, a ninja with two purposes in life- to kill Giovanni and his son Silver.

Janine had no idea where Giovanni or Silver was. She knew that she had come extremely close to killing Silver, but he got away from her, so he most likely would not stay in the same place for very long. So she now was wandering off, towards a forest between Olivine and Ecruteak, hoping to at least find clues as to where either of her enemies could be.

Janine had lost nearly all her innocence after the death of her father Koga. After the killing of her aunt Aya, she had become a cold-blooded killer. She had no remorse, no guilt. Revenge was the only thing to satisfy her. It was of no concern to her what would happen if she did indeed kill both Giovanni and Silver. Whether satisfaction or punishment, the consequences of such an action made no difference to her. All she cared about was gaining her revenge.

She quickly regained focus. There were two people coming within sight, walking in an abnormal way. They were walking as if on a mission. She climbed a tree to get a better view.

There was no mistaking it now- it was Silver, and his girlfriend walking next to him, with a Pokémon as well. Janine reached for a shuriken. Her heart began to pound, just thinking of what she had a chance to accomplish. She also knew she had to be accurate- her last attempt at killing Silver missed the mark. But what was it to her whether she killed one of Silver's loved ones or not? He deserved every bit of pain and suffering that she had gone through.

But right then, the Pokémon cried out.

"What is it, Eevee?" Jasmine asked Eevee.

Silver then tackled Jasmine to the ground, along with Eevee, as he saw what- or who- Eevee was barking at. As he dived, he pulled out a Poké Ball, of which Kadabra came out.

"Reflect!" Silver cried.

Kadabra set up a barrier around Silver, Jasmine, Eevee and itself. However, Janine simply watched it all. She knew Silver's tricks; she had watched it all occur before, when she had killed that other girl. Now she had him right where she wanted him, as she leaped down from the tree and rushed over to her enemy…

----------

Giselle and Joe were at the Sinnoh League Headquarters with Cynthia, ready to leave the foreign land.

"I- and all the people of Sinnoh- cannot thank you enough for helping us," Cynthia told Giselle. "You make sure you stay safe."

"There was never anything to worry about," Giselle responded. "I can't remember the last time I lost a battle."

"Well, we'll find out in the next Pokémon League tournament," Cynthia laughed. She then checked her video answering machine, where a message from Lance appeared.

"This is Lance of the Indigo League Elite Four," Lance said. "We wish to congratulate Giselle on her efforts. We also wish to assist her in future battles, so we ask that she comes to Indigo Plateau to receive our help. Thank you."

Always one to love flattery, Giselle smiled. "See, Joe, even that loser Lance is happy with my work. I want to go back to them and rub it in their faces that I saved everyone's skin," she told Joe.

"Okay…" the embarrassed-as-usual Joe replied.

"See you!" Giselle said to Cynthia, before walking outside with Joe. She then let out her Pidgeot, which she and Joe boarded. They were off to Indigo Plateau to visit the Elite Four.

----------

Whitney was visiting Gold in his hospital room. Unlike usual, Whitney was in a very serious mood.

"Gold," she asked her boyfriend, "do you trust Silver?"

Gold looked confused. "I used to not trust him at all," he answered. "For a while he was just a rival, with a bad attitude and apparently not many morals. But ever since he met Jasmine, he's been different, a changed person. I don't know, I guess you could say I do trust him now. She's made him into a respectable person."

Whitney looked taken aback. "_You_ trust him?" she said in shock.

"Well, I guess so," Gold responded. "Why?"

Whitney stared at the ground, looking a little sad. "I don't know, I guess I got into an argument with him," she replied. "He had been talking about strange things like having a ninja chasing him and having to face his father- I thought he had gone crazy, so I told him to his face. Then he and Jasmine took off."

"He's not insane," Gold said. "There's a lot of stuff in Silver's past I don't understand, and I'm sure there's a lot in his present that we can't understand. I think the only thing we can do is just try to sympathize with him."

"But what about our argument?" Whitney asked.

"Don't worry about it," Gold assured Whitney. "I know Silver well enough to know that he forgets who argued with him, because so many have. He knows he can count on us, so he and Jasmine will return."

Whitney then stared out the window. "That's part of the problem," she explained. "They mentioned something about risking their lives for each other… I don't get it."

"He's probably trying to take on Team Rocket all by himself, or at least only with Jasmine," Gold mused. "Soon enough he'll figure out that's not the right idea… just wait."

----------

Janine stood in front of Silver and Jasmine, who were enclosed inside Kadabra's barrier. Jasmine looked at Janine in fear, as she grabbed on to Silver's arm.

"What do you want?" Silver asked Janine angrily.

Janine ignored Silver, walking around the barrier, trying to find a way through it. She even sent out a Venomoth to try to penetrate the barrier, but it found no way in. But then, she thought of an idea.

"Venomoth, use Psychic," she told her Pokémon.

Venomoth began to use its Psychic move on Kadabra, slowly causing Kadabra to drop the barrier. Meanwhile, she put a mask over her face, and pulled some powder out of her pocket.

"Once this barrier is gone, you shall die," she stated, releasing the poisonous powder.

Silver and Jasmine scrambled to the other side of the barrier, but it was too late. Kadabra was completely losing its focus, and the barrier was about to completely collapse.

"Send out your Skarmory!" Silver told Jasmine.

Jasmine sent out Skarmory, while grabbing on to Eevee. Both trainers climbed on the bird, then Silver pulled out Kadabra's Poké Ball.

"This is going to have to be quick," he said. He put his other hand over Jasmine's nose and mouth, then called Kadabra back. Instantly, the poison powder blew right in Silver's face.

"Fly, Skarmory!" Silver yelled. Before Skarmory took off, Janine fired two shuriken at Silver, both of which made contact with his left leg. Skarmory then vanished from Janine's sight.

"Good work, Venomoth," Janine said, calling back her Pokémon. "Soon, one of my enemies will be dead. Now, it's on to kill his father."

She walked away nonchalantly, without even a bit of remorse in her heart.


	28. Annoyance

Chapter 28

Annoyance

Giselle and Joe arrived at the Indigo Elite Four headquarters, met by Bruno and Karen, who seemed to be going out of their way to welcome the league champion and her boyfriend to the building.

"You're a big star now," Bruno told Giselle.

"What? I wasn't one already?" Giselle snapped.

"Come inside," Karen said, leading the others into the headquarters.

Lance and Lorelei were waiting for them. Joe saw that Lorelei looked confused as to what was going on, with the other members of the Elite Four being so happy to see Giselle.

"You've done everyone a great service," Lance said to Giselle and Joe. "You rescued Sinnoh from a terrible fate."

Giselle simply laughed. "Was there ever any doubt?" she asked. Beside her, Joe rolled his eyes.

"Now we know that while you've done so much already, there is still a battle left to be fought," Lance continued. "We have found out information related to Team Rocket that we want to pass on to you."

"What is it?" Giselle asked.

"From what we know, Team Rocket is planning on an all-out attack on the Orange Archipelago," Lance explained. "Several different sources have called us with this information, getting it from the Johto gym leaders who turned to Team Rocket."

Lorelei remained silent with a suspicious look on her face as Lance went on to tell Giselle about various specifics of Team Rocket's plan and why they were attacking Shamouti Island in particular.

"So it's all about the legendary Pokémon Lugia?" Giselle asked.

"That's right," Bruno answered. "The new gym leader of Viridian City, Gary Oak, took leave of absence to go with his girlfriend to Shamouti Island. His girlfriend has the legendary Lugia in a Master Ball, despite not even being a trainer. Team Rocket wants Lugia for future use, so they are planning an invasion of Shamouti Island in order to steal Lugia off that girl."

Lorelei continued to look wary of what the other Elites were saying. When did these sources give this information to the Elite Four, and who were they? And why would Team Rocket go with an all-out attack for the sake of one Pokémon? None of it made sense, but she had no idea what to say, so she said nothing.

"Okay, we'll fly there and stop them," Giselle told the Elite Four. "It'll be no problem for me… I mean, us. Are you ready, Joe?"

"Yeah, sure," Joe sighed, dreading another big battle.

----------

Jasmine rushed into the Goldenrod Hospital, with Silver's Kadabra holding an unconscious Silver in its arms. The usually shy girl found the courage to speak up to workers in the emergency room, who quickly took Silver away. She then sat down in a chair and began to cry.

It was at that moment that Whitney came walking through the room, as she was on her way out of the hospital from visiting the still-injured Gold. She saw Jasmine crying and was stunned.

_Could Silver have hurt her already?_ was the first thought that came to Whitney's mind. But that didn't make much sense, especially for Jasmine to be here in the hospital. So she went over to her to find out what was wrong.

"I- I'm sorry," Whitney stuttered, not knowing what to say to Jasmine.

Jasmine looked up, with tears streaming down her face. She wanted to say something, but as usual, she couldn't think of anything to say, so she simply just continued to cry. Such a reaction made Whitney believe that Jasmine must be really upset at her, so she apologized again.

"It's not- your fault," Jasmine managed to say.

She then went on to explain how only hours after the argument between Silver and Whitney, Janine had attacked them, and how now Silver's life was in danger.

"Maybe I shouldn't have yelled at him so much," Whitney mused.

"Maybe you should have yelled at him more," Jasmine replied. "If only he had just stayed here in Goldenrod…"

----------

Ever since Will's proposal to Sabrina, the two psychics had completely forgotten about pretty much anything else in their lives. They were in love. Of course, they had been recruited to be part of a team of trainers fighting off Team Rocket, but neither of them cared now. All that mattered to them was their feelings for each other.

Of course, not all psychics felt this way.

"Sabrina! Will!" Liza called from outside a room. "Take down the barrier! I need to talk to you!"

She received no answer.

_Just like Sabrina, to pull a cruel trick on me by using her overwhelming psychic powers to create a barrier preventing me from teleporting inside that room_, Liza thought. _Meanwhile, I have these premonitions about Team Rocket about to do something…_

"Open up!" Liza screamed. "I know you're in there, and if you don't let me in, I'll get your father to let me in!"

About half a minute later, Sabrina opened the door.

"What is it, Liza?" she asked. "Can't Will and I have any time to ourselves?"

"What are you two doing in here anyway?" Liza yelled.

"Nothing, honestly," Will responded. "Just a little bit of kissing."

"I'm sure," Liza replied. "Haven't you two remembered about Team Rocket?"

Sabrina and Will looked at each other for a moment.

"Who's that?" Sabrina asked.

"Oh, come on, what's the matter with you two?" Liza asked. "Don't you realize that's what you're supposed to be doing, fighting off Team Rocket?"

"Those other trainers can do the work," Will answered. "We basically were saving their skins anyway. Let them do some of the fighting for a change."

Liza looked angrier. "So you think it's okay for the Team Rocket who put Hoenn's Elite under mind control and captured my family to just continue doing whatever they want?" she snapped.

Sabrina sighed. "How about this, Liza?" she said. "How about you go teleport to wherever you think Team Rocket is, and you find out what they're planning. Then you come back here and tell us what they're doing."

Liza gave Sabrina an angry stare, but she agreed. "Fine, I'll go," she told Sabrina. "But if there's anything going on, you have to agree to help me. You understand?"

"Right, right," Sabrina replied.

"You too, Will!" Liza shouted.

"Okay, just get going," Will said.

Liza teleported downstairs to the living room of Sabrina's house. _Oh, sure, they make me do all the work, while they just act all stupid because they're "in love,"_ she thought. _Well, maybe they'll see that a younger psychic can be just as effective in fighting Team Rocket… maybe even more effective._

She then felt a premonition again, and it was leading her to Olivine City. So she teleported there, hoping to find information on Team Rocket's plans…

----------

Silver woke up to find himself in a hospital room, with a Nurse Joy standing near him.

"We've been able to get all of the poison out of your body," she said with a smile. "Now you just rest and recover from your injuries."

As Nurse Joy left the room, Silver began to look around. Never the one to want to sit around, he tried to get up, but his leg hurt too badly from even budging it, so he lay back down.

Then he looked over to his right.

"How's it going?" the person in the bed on the other side of the room said to him.

"Gold!" Silver yelled. "Great! Not only am I hurt, but I have to share a hospital room with you! I hope that girl of yours doesn't visit us anytime soon!"

"Hey, it's thanks to me that she trusts you now," Gold replied. "So you better just shut up and not ruin it."

"Oh, thanks to you, huh?" Silver said.

"Yeah," Gold responded. "And come to think of it, why don't you stop getting yourself attacked? I don't know why anyone would waste their time on attacking you, but you must really be asking for it."

Silver groaned. "Being in a room with you is worse than being poisoned!" he whined, while Gold continued to taunt him.


	29. Ancient Voices

Chapter 29

Ancient Voices

Gary lay in a hammock between two palm trees, enjoying the sunny weather. His Pokémon ran around freely in the sand, having fun. _This is paradise_, he thought to himself.

At the same time, Melody sat under a palm tree with her arms crossed, with an grumpy look on her face. "How long are you going to lie there?" she called over to Gary.

"What, is there a time limit?" he asked. "We're on vacation, right?"

"Some vacation," Melody complained. "You know how much I hate it here."

"But I don't get it, what is there to hate?" Gary asked. "If I had the opportunity to live here for the rest of my life, I'd give up Pokémon training and just live it up."

"You don't understand," Melody replied, putting sunglasses over her anger-filled eyes. "My family lives the most primitive lifestyle imaginable, and they always force me to take place in their useless rituals. You saw what I had to do last night!"

"I thought you looked beautiful in that dress, playing your flute," Gary responded.

"Oh, so you agree with them," Melody grumbled. "Could you imagine living in a place with little technology and no breaks from ceremonies? I mean, how many straight nights do they have to sing those horrible-sounding chants, while dancing around fires like idiots? This place is about as boring as it gets, and I can't wait to go back home."

Gary rolled his eyes. "Well, we're staying another week, like it or not," he replied. "I wish we could stay longer…"

"Just to torture me!" Melody whined.

"You went months without seeing your family, surely it couldn't hurt to see them for a little while?" Gary mused.

"I've seen them enough already," Melody complained. "I really want to get out of this place."

Gary stared off into the distance, not giving much care to Melody's complaints. Suddenly he saw a flying Pokémon coming closer and closer to the island.

"Uh… Melody… what's that?" Gary pondered.

Melody looked over to see what Gary was staring at. They both then saw a Pidgeot come flying in and landing on the beach.

"What is this?" Gary asked, seeing Giselle and Joe getting off the Pidgeot.

"They must be part of Team Rocket!" Giselle exclaimed. "Let's get them!"

"Uh, Giselle…" Joe said. "Don't you think that perhaps they're just a couple of normal people… including perhaps the Viridian City gym leader?"

Giselle blushed. "Oh… perhaps," she responded.

Melody rolled her eyes and walked away, but Gary got up off his hammock and walked over to Giselle and Joe. "You mentioned Team Rocket… why are you here?" he asked.

"We heard that Team Rocket is planning an all-out attack on this island," Giselle told Gary.

"Good," Melody said, overhearing the conversation. "This place could use some excitement."

"Wait a minute- Team Rocket attacking here?" Gary asked. "For what reason? To steal some sand?"

"Supposedly they're after Lugia," Giselle replied. "In fact, it's that girl there that has Lugia, and they want it."

"You mean my girlfriend Melody?" Gary asked. "Don't you remember us? We were with you in the Silph Company building!"

"Oh, sorry, I have a hard time remembering everyone's names," Giselle said. "I meet so many people, being the Pokémon League Champion and all… I can't remember them all!"

Gary rolled his eyes. "Look, we've seen no sign of Team Rocket at all," he told Giselle. "And if we do, we'll have no problem dispatching of them."

"I'm not too sure about that," Giselle replied. "I think you need us here to protect you, just in case."

"Uh, we're going to be here another week," Gary said. "You do realize I put in my two weeks of vacation with the Pokémon League, which you are part of?"

"I haven't been there too much lately," Giselle responded. "But if you're going to be here another week, so be it. We'll protect you the whole time."

"I think you're just trying to give yourselves a vacation," Gary said.

"Maybe we are," Giselle replied. "And who's going to do anything about it? After all, I am-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Gary groaned, walking back over to his hammock. "Enjoy yourselves here… it shouldn't be too hard."

Melody stared angrily at Gary over that last comment, which was directed at her, but he couldn't care less. Life was good for him, lying in a hammock on a sunny beach, without a care in the world.

----------

It was now six days since Giovanni had made his declaration to his minions to put his Johto plan on a one-week hiatus. Sabrina and Will were still being over-the-top romantic to each other, forgetting about the world outside them. But that evening, Sabrina managed to realize something.

"Um, where's Liza?" she asked Will.

"Uh, well, she said she was going to-" Will answered, before freezing.

The two psychics then stared at each other with panic.

"Oh no," Sabrina said. "She went to go find Team Rocket's plans, and she hasn't been back here since… she probably got herself captured again."

"Well, let's think about it for a moment," Will commented. "Maybe she simply didn't want to bother us, so she teleported back home."

"Will, think about it," Sabrina replied. "Liza- not wanting to bother us? I don't think so."

"Yeah, you're right," Will responded. "But where could she have gone and been captured?"

"Focus," Sabrina said. "Fix your mind on Liza… maybe you can find her…"

However, Sabrina and Will could not find Liza in their thoughts anywhere, giving them no place to teleport.

"What do we do know?" Will asked.

"We don't have much choice," Sabrina replied. "We have to start looking all over for her."

"Wait a minute," Will said. "Searching for her at night isn't going to be all that great of an idea. If she's been captured in a place such as the Hoenn League Headquarters, it won't be open anyway, and we'll just get ourselves in more trouble by teleporting to a locked-up place. Wait until tomorrow morning, and maybe we'll get a clue then. Who knows? Maybe she'll even show up here."

"Good idea," Sabrina replied. "I'll see you tomorrow morning… and hopefully we'll see Liza then too."

The two kissed, before Will teleported home.

----------

That night, Giselle and Joe joined Gary and Melody for another ceremony being put on by Melody's family. Melody sat grumpily with her arms crossed while the others intently watched the ritual.

"Eh eh oh ee oh ee oh ee ah ah eh eh oh ee oh ee ah ah…" the islanders sung, dancing around a fire and carrying torches.

"Isn't this great?" Gary taunted Melody, who gave him a cold stare.

The islanders continued to sing, chant and dance for about half an hour, before they then set up three large torches.

"Pardon me," Gary asked one islander, "but what do those torches stand for?"

"Those represent the three great faraway lands our ancestors came from," the islander explained. "The left one is the land of Kanto, the middle one is the land of Johto, and the right one is the land of Hoenn. We light the torches for good luck for those regions. If the torches remain lit through the night, then all the people in those lands will have good luck. If the torches go out, then the people will experience bad fortune. Great woe to a land whose torch goes out if the other two remain lit!"

Melody groaned. "You mean the fortunes of entire lands rely on whether it rains or not? Give me a break," she said.

After the ceremony, everyone went to sleep for the night. None was awake when the middle torch was mysteriously extinguished.


	30. Prison Break

Chapter 30

Prison Break

Silver woke up the next morning, sitting up in his bed. He was sick of just lying around, but the doctors refused to let him out of the hospital until he was fully healed. He saw Gold out like a log, in the bed on the side of the room away from the window.

_That figures_, Silver thought. _When I actually want to talk to him, he's like a cat, sleeping non-stop. And most of the time, when I don't want to see him, he's bothering me constantly._

Silver was not going to wake Gold up, until he looked out the window.

"What the heck is going on out there!" he screamed, waking Gold up immediately.

Gold yawned. "Was it worth waking me up over?" he asked Silver.

"I think so!" Silver replied. "Look!"

"I can't see, you moron!" Gold shouted. "You're in the way of the window!"

SMASH! The window shattered into thousands of pieces as a Pokémon's giant hand came through it.

"That's the largest Dragonite I've ever seen!" Silver yelled, rolling out of his bed. "It's going to tear down the building! Come on, we've got to get out of here!"

Silver broke for the door, before realizing that Gold wasn't moving. "Come on, Gold!" he shouted.

Gold simply pointed to his legs.

"Oh, right, your legs are broken," Silver realized. He ran over to the wheelchair in a corner of the room, then pushed it over to Gold, helping him get in it. Even as he was helping Gold, the entire hospital was shaking, as the Dragonite was simply attacking it non-stop.

"Come on, let's go!" Silver exclaimed, pushing Gold out of the room and down the hallway.

Jasmine and Whitney, meanwhile, were nervously watching reports on the television in Whitney's house, as giant Pokémon had appeared all over Johto and were in the process of destroying whatever was in their path. Gold's former home of New Bark Town was the first to be completely destroyed. His new home of Mahogany Town was the next town that was reported to be run over by huge Pokémon. At the current moment, both Olivine and Goldenrod City had enormous Pokémon in the process of attacking them.

"What can we do?" Whitney asked. "Roxanne and I were able to fight off six of them at once, but this is too many."

"I think I'll call Silver…" Jasmine said, before being interrupted by two people coming bursting through the front door.

"Gold! What are you doing out of the hospital so soon?" Whitney yelled at her boyfriend, sitting in a wheelchair being pushed by Silver.

"Well, I was thinking of sitting in the hospital as that giant Dragonite attacked it, but I thought it might be better for Silver to get me out of there," Gold sarcastically replied.

"There's something strange about that Dragonite, though," Silver commented. "The instant we left the hospital, it stopped attacking the hospital and began following us. We've got to get out of here as soon as possible!"

Whitney and Jasmine followed Silver and Gold out of Whitney's house, seeing the enormous Dragonite outside their door, breathing a Dragonbreath attack on them.

"Protect us!" Silver screamed, sending out his Kadabra, which immediately set up a psychic barrier in front of the four Johto trainers.

"That's not going to help us very much while we run," Gold remarked.

"Then keep the barrier to follow behind us as we run," Silver told Kadabra, as the four trainers began to run in the opposite direction of the Dragonite.

"Why is it following us, and only us?" Gold wondered.

The four trainers were about to exit Goldenrod City when they saw before them a giant Charizard, breathing fire and charging towards them.

"Now what?" an annoyed and panicked Silver screamed.

----------

Sabrina and Will both got up the next morning and teleported outside Sabrina's house. That was where the two of them focused their minds together, trying to figure out Liza's location. As they focused, they teleported to the location where they felt Liza's presence. When they opened their eyes, they found themselves in Olivine City, with giant Pokémon attacking the town.

"Am I having a nightmare?" Will asked.

"No, this is definitely where we sensed Liza's presence… but where exactly is she?" Sabrina remarked.

She quickly sent out some of her Pokémon, including her Mewtwo.

"Put those giant Pokémon out to sea," she told them.

Sabrina's Pokémon attacked the large Pokémon, which were a Venusaur, a Raichu, a Snorlax, and a Hitmonchan. They had no problem using their psychic powers to push the Pokémon out of the city and into the sea, where they began to sink.

"Now to find Liza…" Sabrina said. She focused her mind again, then felt Liza's presence in the direction of the Olivine City police station and prison. Then she grabbed Will's hand and began to run.

"Why are we running? Can't we just teleport?" the flabbergasted Will asked, trying to keep up with the faster Sabrina.

"Not when we're trying to get somewhere which is protected by its own psychic barrier," Sabrina replied.

Will tried to make sense of what Sabrina had said. As usual, he was unable to do so.

"Okay, whatever," he said.

Sabrina led Will to the Olivine City police station, where they tried to enter the front door, but they were denied access by the police officers there.

"Sorry, but Officer Jenny says we are under maximum security with the recent attacks of giant Pokémon," a police officer told them.

"Those Pokémon you speak of have been put into action by someone in your very jail!" Sabrina yelled at the officer. "You're going to have to get out of our way!"

Sabrina sent out her Alakazam, which picked up the police officers psychically and pushed them gently aside, allowing the psychics and their Pokémon to run down the hallway, into the jail portion of the station.

"Should we try to chase them?" a police officer asked the others.

"Not when they have that power," another replied. "Let Officer Jenny take care of them… she's somewhere in there, keeping an eye on the prisoners."

Sabrina and Will continued through the prison, trying to find Liza, when they ran right into an invisible wall. They crashed to the ground.

"How do we get through this?" Will asked, getting up slowly. "Teleportation?"

"No, we simply fight psychics with psychics," Sabrina replied, causing Will to shake his head, again in confusion. Sabrina ignored his bewilderment while she sent her Pokémon out, having them all use their Psychic attack on the invisible wall. The barrier began to bend, before finally breaking, which Sabrina was able to sense in her mind. Sabrina had the Pokémon return to their Poké Balls, as the psychics then walked a little farther into the prison, before finding Officer Jenny standing outside the door of a certain prison cell.

"Welcome, Sabrina," Jenny said. "We've been expecting you."

----------

In the Indigo League headquarters, Lorelei was alarmed by the reports on the Johto news stations that she was watching. How did Team Rocket suddenly become so powerful again? And why hadn't the Elite Four heard anything back from Giselle? Had something terrible happened to her? Not only this, but there was something strange about the way the other three Elite had all called off today, only telling her that morning. She was about to go visit them in their apartments, but she first decided to call Giselle on the videophone. Giselle appeared wearing a lei around her neck, while putting on some sunblock lotion.

"What are you doing?" Lorelei demanded. "I thought you were supposed to be fighting off Team Rocket!"

"Oh… that," Giselle replied. "Well, you see, we didn't find Team Rocket here, so we decided to become bodyguards for the girl who has Lugia, whatever her name is."

"Bodyguards?" Lorelei asked. "Wait, Team Rocket hasn't ever appeared there? What's going on?"

"Like I told you, we never saw Team Rocket here," Giselle answered. "But hey, I thought since I'm the Pokémon League champion and all, I might as well take a vacation. And I'm ready to defeat Team Rocket in case they attack, just in case."

Lorelei looked furious. "Someone's lying here, and I don't think it's you," she said. "Right now, several cities in Johto are under attack by gigantic Pokémon. But Team Rocket never attacked the Orange Archipelago, where the other Elite swore they were going to attack."

"Tsk, tsk," Giselle snickered.

"Don't you think it would be a good idea to help the land of Johto?" Lorelei asked.

"I think they can help themselves for once," Giselle replied.

"Oh, so you're too scared," a wily Lorelei said.

"I'm not scared!" Giselle yelled. "I'm just vacationing… oh, all right, I'll come fight off Team Rocket. But I think you Elite ought to lift your fingers to help, too."

"We will," Lorelei responded. "I'll get them all to help me fight Team Rocket, and I'll meet you in Goldenrod City, where the worst attack is taking place."

"Okay, sounds like a plan," Giselle said, before turning off the phone.

Joe, meanwhile, had been peering over Giselle's shoulder the whole time.

"Let's go," he told his girlfriend.

Giselle and Joe ran out towards the beach, where they saw Gary relaxing and Melody pouting.

"Where are you going?" Melody asked.

"We're flying back to Johto," Joe answered.

"Yeah, apparently the Pokémon world falls apart anywhere that I'm not," Giselle remarked.

"I'm going too," Melody said. "Did you hear that, Gary?"

"Hear what?" a disturbed Gary exclaimed.

"I'm going with these trainers to Johto, whether you like it or not," Melody told her boyfriend.

"But, can't you just wait a few more days? We can then fly back to Viridian City on your Lugia," Gary responded.

"Sorry, Gary, but I've had it with this place," Melody protested.

"All right, all right, we'll go with them," Gary agreed reluctantly. He quickly grabbed his things, which were sitting around his hammock, then joined Melody, Joe and Giselle aboard Giselle's Pidgeot.

"To Goldenrod City," Giselle told her Pidgeot, which immediately took off.

----------

Silver's Kadabra now had a barrier built completely around the four trainers, which completely protected them from the big Pokémon's attacks, but allowed them little freedom for movement, and certainly no viable escape route.

"What is causing these Pokémon to attack us- and only us?" Silver asked.

"Well, they've already attacked and destroyed New Bark Town and Mahogany Town, and they were also attacking Olivine," Whitney told Silver.

"Wait a minute," Gold said. "I used to live in New Bark Town, then I moved to Mahogany Town. Someone who wants to kill me sent the giant Pokémon into those cities, and they destroyed everything in their paths, unable to find us. Then they were sent to the places of the gym leaders who did not give into Team Rocket- Olivine and Goldenrod."

"You're rather selfish," Silver replied, "thinking the Pokémon are after you and you only. You idiot, if Team Rocket's attacking anyone, it's me!"

"Always arguing," Whitney remarked with annoyance. "Listen, you two, I think Gold has the right idea, although the Pokémon may not just be after him. They're also probably after the three others of us as well. What I don't get is how they destroyed entire cities before, but now have found us and are going after only us- how can Pokémon be smart enough to recognize us, when they've never seen us before?"

The others puzzled over this for a moment, watching Dragonbreath and Fire Blast attacks bounce off Kadabra's barrier, before Silver gave a response.

"I saw a lab in Celadon City, where Team Rocket was doing some strange research," Silver explained. "Maybe they figured out a way to get our scent programmed into their minds, so they go after us and us only."

"But where did they get the scent?" Whitney asked.

"Who knows, but Giovanni is my father," Silver answered. "Maybe his scientists found a way to slightly alter my scent."

"And maybe the Pokémon were just sent to completely destroy the other cities, while possibly only stopping to go after Silver, if they smelled him," Gold commented. "Besides, Silver has a very noticeable scent, and it isn't a particularly good one."

"If we weren't about to die right now, I'd kill you!" Silver yelled at Gold.

Gold laughed, but Whitney thought of something else to worry about.

"Your mother… I hope she survived," Whitney noted.

Gold and Silver then looked at each other, suddenly serious.

"I'll call her right now," Gold remarked, pulling out his cell phone.

However, Gold did not get an answer, not even an answering machine- just a busy signal.

"Who could she be calling right now?" Gold asked.

Whitney looked down, upset. "There could be a worse reason for that busy signal…" she mused.

----------

Officer Jenny opened the door to Giovanni's "cell," allowing Sabrina in but keeping Will out, as a barrier opened just long enough for Sabrina enter and Will to stay out. Sabrina looked enraged as she walked inside, seeing Liza sitting in a corner, unable to move due to psychic barriers. Giovanni sat in a comfortable chair, with several television screens in front of him, showing Johto destruction.

"Ah, Sabrina," Giovanni said to the powerful psychic, smiling evilly. "It appears our paths cross again."

"For the last time," Sabrina replied. "I'm ready to kill you!"

"Oh, no you aren't, you weakling," Giovanni answered. "I can read your thoughts… oh, you tremble at the very thought of killing someone. Yes, you could never do it, you coward. But I certainly could!"

He snapped his fingers. Liza began to scream, as if walls were being closed in on her.

"You stop that now!" Sabrina screamed, using all her psychic might to prevent Liza from being crushed.

"Just a test," Giovanni said with a laugh, easing back on his psychic attack. "I have become almost as powerful as you, as in the past, you'd be able to break that girl free this instant. I chose not to kill her when she teleported right into my trap, because I knew she'd be great bait for you. Now surrender yourself to Team Rocket, or I will have to use the full extent of my powers on you!"

Sabrina gave Giovanni a smirk. "You'll never be as powerful as me," she stated. "And I have the ultimate Pokémon in my possession, one that will break Liza free."

She sent out her Mewtwo, which immediately began using its psychic powers to try to break the barrier around Liza.

"Funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same," Giovanni commented. "Some time ago, it was I who was in possession of Mewtwo. Now it's no longer Mewtwo who I control, but a reasonable facsimile thereof!"

He slammed his hand on his armrest, causing a door to fly open. Out stepped a robotic version of Mewtwo, identical in shape, although completely mechanical.

"Meet MechaMew2," Giovanni said to Sabrina. "He's just like your Mewtwo, but a robot. That means he can't be influenced by psychics like you! You can try your confusion attacks all you want, but it won't do any good. It will be the very thing that destroys both you and that girl, unless you choose to surrender to me."

MechaMew2 immediately attacked Sabrina with a psychic blast, causing her to have to use all her might to keep her mind under control. She reached for her other Poké Balls, quickly sending out her other Pokémon to help. However, Giovanni's own psychic attacks were enough to neutralize any of their powers, stopping Sabrina from being able to escape.

"Face it, Sabrina, it's over," Giovanni said. "In a matter of minutes, you will surrender your psychic powers to the sole use of Team Rocket, and when that occurs, you will no longer be you- you will be mine!"

Giovanni began to laugh madly, before seeing a new foe.

"Your barrier weakened," Will said, appearing before Giovanni, and using his psychic powers to help Sabrina get out of MechaMew2's mental grip. "I've learned a lot about psychic ability from Sabrina, and I know there's no stronger psychic than her. Liza's time of captivity is over!"

Will used his psychic power to help Mewtwo break through the psychic barrier surrounding Liza. Liza immediately rushed up to Will and glomped him.

"Well, it doesn't surprise me that Sabrina's recruited a couple of helpers," Giovanni commented, a bit angry. "It only figures that a brilliant mind like hers would do something like that. But inasmuch as you think you're going to win this battle, you're losing the war at this moment!"

Giovanni stomped his foot. A television screen suddenly switched to a view of Violet City. Within seconds, there were large Pokémon all over the city, wrecking everything in sight.

"You made me angry, so I decided to destroy a city I promised not to touch," Giovanni yelled. "It's your fault that city was destroyed! And it's going to be just too bad when I destroy the remainder of this land!"

"Remind me to kill you later," Sabrina told Giovanni. She called back her Pokémon, then teleported out of the prison, along with Will and Liza.

Giovanni slammed his fist on his chair, angry that Sabrina had escaped from his clutches. The door to the room opened, and Officer Jenny walked back in.

"Is everything all right, boss?" she asked.

"Not everything is all right, and not everything will be all right until I have Sabrina's mind under my control," Giovanni answered. "Hopefully I scared them into thinking that every city would be destroyed… I just demolished Violet City."

"But that wasn't in our plans!" Jenny exclaimed.

"I know that," Giovanni responded. "But their gym leader Falkner was a police officer… there was too much risk of him returning to good, so I decided to warn him. Hopefully he's dead now anyway."

Jenny looked worried. Apparently it didn't take much to incur Giovanni's wrath. She thought of her boyfriend, Lt. Surge, only hoping that he would be successful on his mission.


	31. The Elite Secret

Chapter 31

The Elite Secret

The four Johto trainers stared up at the two giant Pokémon, who continued to attack the psychic barrier surrounding them. The barrier was strong enough to deflect any attack except for Psychic or Dark attacks, but fortunately for the trainers, these Pokémon had no such attacks.

"I wonder how long it will take for them to give up," Gold said.

"Probably never," Silver remarked. "Sooner or later, we're going to have to make a break, but I'm not quite sure how."

Meanwhile, a crowd was gathering in the city, watching these Pokémon attack the trainers, who were around the border of the city. They all were worried that the Pokémon were going to turn around and attack the city, although some found it peculiar that they were only attacking a small number of trainers.

"Hey, I was wondering… what happens when Kadabra becomes tired and has to go to sleep?" Gold asked.

"Look, let's not think like that right now," Silver snapped. "We've just got to think of a way out of here."

"That's what I'm saying, you idiot!" Gold yelled. "We better think of that soon!"

Whitney put her hand over her face in embarrassment as Gold and Silver continued arguing.

"Would you two cut it out, please?" she asked.

At that time, though, Giselle's Pidgeot came flying towards the city, with the trainers aboard. As Pidgeot landed, they saw the giant Pokémon there and immediately took action.

"Go! Starmie! Cubone!" Giselle exclaimed.

Giselle's Starmie and Cubone instantly went to work attacking the large Charizard, while Melody began playing her flute. Her Lugia came out of its Ultra Ball and began attacking both gigantic Pokémon, going according to Melody's flute playing. With Lugia's powerful psychic attacks, it was only a matter of minutes before both enormous Pokémon came crashing to the ground.

"Good job, Starmie and Cubone," Giselle called to her Pokémon, having them return to their Poké Balls. "As usual, I saved the day."

"I'm pretty sure Lugia did most of the work," Gary said, a bit angry, while Melody played her flute to have Lugia to return to its Poké Ball.

Silver had his Kadabra lift the barrier, allowing him and the other three Johto trainers to walk away from where they had been huddled for the last hour or so.

"It took you long enough," Silver remarked to Giselle. "You're a late hero."

"Hero_ine_," Giselle replied, running her hand through her long black hair. "I don't have time to deal with you. I'm looking for the Elite Four."

"Heh, the last place they'd be is somewhere they would have to break a sweat," Silver stated. "No way they'd be here."

"Well, Lorelei told me to meet them here, so I'm going to do just that," Giselle responded, walking away from Silver.

Joe followed Giselle into the town, while Gary pulled out a couple of Ultra Balls.

"I wonder…" he said, about to throw out the balls at the fainted giant Pokémon.

"Don't even think about it!" Melody screamed.

"Oh, come on, I'll find a safe place for them," Gary replied, tossing an Ultra Ball at the giant Dragonite. He expected the Ultra Ball to bounce right off, but instead, the Dragonite was caught in the Ultra Ball. He did the same to the Charizard.

"Now they won't hurt anyone," he told Melody, who looked annoyed.

"I know you too well… you'll experiment with them in battle!" Melody snapped.

"I'm not an idiot," Gary replied.

"You're the same idiot who wanted to use my Lugia in the Pokémon League tournament!" Melody yelled.

"Okay… maybe I was… but trust me, I won't do anything dumb this time around," Gary responded.

Whitney interrupted the couple.

"Come over to my house," she told them. "We need to find out where those giant Pokémon are attacking, and wherever they are, we must fight them."

"Must?" Melody asked.

"Your Lugia might be our last resort," Whitney replied.

The trainers headed toward Whitney's house, walking past an applauding crowd of people, who was appreciative of their defeating the large Pokémon.

----------

Lorelei started down a hallway which led to the apartments where the Elite Four stayed. With each step she took, she became angrier and angrier. The other Elite weren't telling her something, and she was determined to find out exactly what that was.

She turned a corner, and then she froze. What she saw before her was too shocking for her to believe.

It was her husband Lance, trapped in a ball of dark energy. Standing next to it was Karen, the great trainer of Dark Pokémon, and by her side was Bruno.

"No!" Lorelei screamed. "My Lance!"

Karen smirked. "Your Lance is trapped in my dark energy, and he will be until you bring all those trainers to us," she told Lorelei.

"What trainers?" Lorelei yelled. "What kind of sick plan is this?"

"The Pokémon League now belongs to Team Rocket," Karen stated. "Your precious husband was in on our plan to turn the league over to Team Rocket, but he got cold feet. Something about you meaning more to him than power, the power we'd gain by getting rid of Giselle. So I trapped him, and here he will stay, until you bring us the eight trainers we chose to fight against the Rockets."

The names and faces of those trainers raced through Lorelei's mind, but she was in no mood to betray them. She wanted Lance freed now.

"Oh, and one other thing," Karen added. "They must all be brought back in ice."

That was all Lorelei could take. She stretched her arms out in front of her, then shot ice beams out of her hands, freezing Bruno in an instant, but unable to hurt Karen, who blocked the ice with her dark energy.

"So you too are willing to use your powers," Karen remarked. "Just like your husband."

All sorts of memories flashed back to Lorelei now. She remembered how being accepted as a member of the Elite Four was not only about being an excellent trainer. All Elite Four members, although not necessarily League Champions, were required to have some sort of extraordinary power, one which was hidden from the public. While psychics and fighters, such as Will and Bruno, became accepted by the people, and their powers revealed, those with rarer powers kept them secret. Lance had the ability to breath fire. Karen had the ability to control dark energy. And Lorelei was able to shoot ice beams, freezing anything they touched. Never did she think she would have to use these powers on one of her fellow Elite.

"Bruno here is so strong, this ice won't affect him very much," Karen told Lorelei. "And as for me, you won't be able to touch me with that. Give it up, Lorelei. I'm the strongest one here."

Lorelei looked over at Bruno, who began to shake violently. Suddenly he broke out of the ice block, shattering it into a million shards.

"You've got your chance now," Karen said. "Either go put those trainers on ice, or you too will be in the dark."

Lorelei looked desperate. She thought of one and only thing that could help her, although she wondered how effective it would be against Karen's dark powers.

"I guess you've made your choice," Karen commented. She reached out her hand, about to blast her dark energy powers.

"No!" Lorelei yelled, blasting ice beams all over the hall. Quickly, the entire hall became filled with ice, making it very cold. The extreme chill made it impossible for Karen to use her dark powers, as she had a hard time moving.

"Y-y-you w-won't g-get aw-ay," Karen muttered, with her teeth chattering.

Slowly her grip on the ball of dark energy around Lance began to break. When it finally did, Lance quickly breathed fire to give himself enough heat to move.

"Let's go," he said to Lorelei, grasping her hand.

The heat also had allowed Karen and Bruno freedom of movement, and they followed Lance and Lorelei down the hallway, as Lance breathed fire to melt enough ice in order to break out. Lance and Lorelei had just enough of a lead to get outside before Karen and Bruno, and they escaped on Lance's Dragonite, flying out into the distance.

Lance looked over at Lorelei with tears in his eyes. "I-I'm sorry," he cried. "All I wanted was freedom from Giselle… I was ready to turn us over to the Rockets… I almost killed us over my selfishness."

"Now, now," Lorelei whispered, rubbing Lance's hand. "We'll have plenty of time for me to scream at you later. As for now, we've got to find those trainers and help them fight against Team Rocket."

"Right," Lance replied. He guided Dragonite towards Goldenrod City, where he and Lorelei hoped to meet those other trainers.

----------

Sabrina, Will and Liza all had teleported to outside Sabrina's house in Saffron City. They looked at each other with worry. Supposedly Giovanni had the power to destroy Johto cities at will, or at least that's how it seemed. Sabrina had her doubts that his power was that far-reaching, but it was clear that he certainly had quite a bit of power.

"How can that guy be so powerful?" Will asked.

Sabrina paused. "He seems to have gone about his psychic training the way I did," she answered. "No restraint. No care for possible consequences. He just wants more and more power. It's resulting in destruction… again."

She looked up at her mansion, remembering how she had destroyed her last house.

"He wants us to go to Violet City and fight the giant Pokémon there, but I think we need to call his bluff," she continued. "Let's go back and fight him."

"What?!" Will screamed. "Liza was trapped, you were in trouble… you're crazy! We can't go back there!"

"And what happens if we don't?" Sabrina asked. "More cities get destroyed, more mechanical Pokémon get produced, more people get killed. His power can increase exponentially. You do realize I only scratched the surface with my psychic power. I could have become much more powerful had that Haunter not made me laugh. If he continues to gain power at this rate, he could become stronger than all of us combined."

"I seriously doubt that," Will commented. "But I see you're unwavering in your decision… what do you think, Liza?"

"I trust Sabrina like a sister," Liza replied. "Don't you trust her?"

Will sighed. "Now you're just being mean, playing the guilt card with me," he muttered.

He reached out and grabbed Sabrina's hand.

"If fighting Giovanni is what you want, then fight Giovanni we will," he said.

"That's my Will," Sabrina laughed.

And with that, the three psychics were teleporting back to Olivine City, right back into the frying pan.

----------

All the while giant Pokémon were attacking cities, Elite Four members were turning on each other, and Giselle was bragging, there was Janine: sneaking through Johto, hunting her prey. What she was about to find was something even she couldn't predict.


	32. Poisonous Lips

Chapter 32

Poisonous Lips

Violet City was in shambles. It was amazing what had occurred. In the matter of minutes, an entire city had gone from perfectly peaceful to absolute mayhem, then back to peaceful again. It was peaceful, only with hundreds of people dead and every building, big or small, torn apart. A dozen gigantic Pokémon walked into the city, attacked everything and everyone in sight, then walked out. It was a perfectly orchestrated attack, as if someone had been pulling the strings behind these Pokémon.

One significant member of Violet City had been out of town at the moment, however: Falkner.

Falkner was one of five Johto gym leaders who joined Team Rocket when Rocket agents threatened his gym. He now wore the scarlet letter- "R"- while still being in full control of his gym, although not of the city itself. Like the other four cities whose gym leaders had given into Team Rocket, Violet City had been flush with Rocket agents all around town, making sure there would be no rebellion against their rule.

It wasn't that Falkner liked it, however. No, as a former police officer turned gym leader, he hated the fact that he had been forced to turn his city over to Rocket rule. Even more, he hated himself for giving into Team Rocket, and not fighting back. The Rockets gave him the "R" shirt, which he loathed beyond belief- it was the very symbol of moral weakness. He was spineless and weak, a man who chose freedom over his own beliefs. It pained him to think that his father was traveling somewhere, imagining his son was carrying on his legacy, while in reality his son had trashed it by turning his city over to Team Rocket.

In short, Falkner was in turmoil. It was the very reason why he had gone go to Cherrygrove City, in order to receive medicinal treatment. He couldn't live with himself anymore, so he hoped that by visiting the doctors there, he would be able to feel better. It hadn't really worked out the way he had hoped, though; despite hiding his "R" shirt from the doctors, they still knew he was a Rocket member, and they did not treat him with much respect. He felt worse now than ever. The thoughts that raged through his mind were terrible ones; thoughts of a lunatic, thoughts of a severely depressed man.

_Is life worth living anymore? What's the point of living a life against everything you believe in? What's worse, being dead or not being true to yourself? What would your father think if he saw this? Are you fit to live, let alone be a gym leader?_

One could only imagine what he thought upon seeing Violet City in ruins.

At first, Falkner was in disbelief, but after a short while, he realized he had been double-crossed. All that talk about his city being safe under Team Rocket's control: a lie. He didn't know how it had occurred, or who or what had caused it to occur. He did know that according to his agreement with Team Rocket, it should never have happened.

He didn't know where to go, or what to do. He didn't even know how to feel. Of course he felt horrible, but at the same time, he felt responsible, that this had all occurred thanks to him.

But he wouldn't have much longer to feel sorry for himself.

"It's over," a female voice said to him.

It was Janine, who had appeared out of nowhere. She now stood behind him, with one arm around his body and her other hand holding a shuriken right up to Falkner's neck, ready to kill him.

"Before you kill me, please tell me who you are," Falkner said in desperation.

"I am Janine, kuniochi and gym leader of Fuchsia City," Janine replied. "My mission is to seek out and destroy all members of Team Rocket. Your 'R' shirt gives you away as one of them. Now you will die."

Falkner did not even try to fight Janine. He was ready to die. He only wondered one other thing…

"Please also tell me… why do you wish to destroy Team Rocket?"

Anger raged in Janine's eyes. "Giovanni killed my father, and his son killed my aunt!" she screamed.

With that, Falkner felt weaker than ever. _Giovanni killed her father._ He could only imagine his own father's disappointment with his turning to Team Rocket. But a girl's father being killed by a Rocket? He had all sympathy for Janine. He deserved to die.

"Please do not wait any longer," Falkner said. "Kill me now."

This only made Janine choose to make him suffer. She sliced his left shoulder, arm and leg with her shuriken, causing blood to spill out. Continuing to hold him, while he gave no fight, she pulled out a vial of liquid poison, and shoved it onto his lips. At this point, Falkner fell back into her grasp, no longer strong enough to stand on his own. Janine then dropped him on the ground, as she realized he had no strength to run away.

"You're an interesting one," Janine told Falkner, standing over him. "Most of my victims wish to live. You wish to die. You will, eventually, but tell me: why?"

"I deserve to die," Falkner mumbled. "I betrayed my father. I betrayed my city. I betrayed myself."

Janine felt a bit of satisfaction. This boy was not fit to live, in her eyes; she felt that to betray one's father was as bad as anything.

"So you're going to let me die slowly?" Falkner asked, feeling weaker and weaker.

"That's right," Janine replied. "And I'm going to enjoy every second of it."

Falkner sighed. "At least… let me tell you…" He struggled to even speak at this point. "Your eyes…"

He began to cough. "Please, Janine," he said softly. "Just kiss me before I die. Not on my lips, just on my forehead."

Janine looked at Falkner as if he was crazy. Kiss her foe? The poison must have already affected his thinking.

"Your father," he said between coughs, "he means something to you. If I had only pleased my father…"

At this point, any normal person would feel sick seeing Falkner's condition, but the cold-blooded Janine felt no remorse.

"I wish you well," Falkner mumbled. "For your father's sake."

Something tugged at Janine's heart. Of all the Rockets she had killed, none had showed the type of regret as Falkner. For some reason, she felt a connection with him. After all, she had fought her father right before his death. This boy had failed his father, and he wanted to die, just because he couldn't bear to think of what his father would think of him.

"I grant you your wish," Janine said softly. She knelt in front of him, bent over and kissed him- on the lips, sucking the poison as she did. For the first time since before Koga's death, she felt compassion, remorse… love. She took the poison without flinching, feeling as if she deserved it, for the mistakes she had made.

"Thank you," Falkner whispered. He then closed his eyes.

Suddenly, Janine did not know what to do. Had she really just killed the one person in the world who could sympathize with her? She checked his pulse.

He was still alive.

She quickly picked him up, and escaped off towards Cherrygrove City, hoping to find a place to heal him. This is what her father would have wanted. Maybe, perhaps, there was a point to living besides revenge.


	33. Changes

Chapter 33

Changes

Sabrina, Will and Liza appeared in Olivine City again, outside the police station. By this time, the giant Pokémon had all sunk into the ocean, no longer a threat to the Olivine citizens. Of course, Giovanni still was thriving inside the jail.

"Lt. Surge has done well," Giovanni told Officer Jenny. "From what I can tell, his invasion of Violet City is a complete success."

"What about Sabrina and those other two, though?" Jenny asked. "What are you going to do if they come back here again?"

"Go all out," Giovanni replied.

While Jenny tried to figure out the meaning of "all out," the three psychics had made their way back to Giovanni's cell, now standing right outside it.

"He's got a barrier up," Sabrina said. "We can't teleport in."

"How are we supposed to get in, then?" Liza asked.

The door then opened by itself.

"As I thought," Sabrina said. "He just let us in."

Giovanni was sitting in his chair, relaxed as ever. "I see you've come back," he told Sabrina. "You must really want to join me."

Sabrina used all her mind's energy in a psychic attack on Giovanni, identical to the Psychic attacks her Pokémon use. Giovanni simply held out his hand, and the attack failed to affect him, even as the room shook and Jenny was knocked over.

"How is he doing that?" Will asked.

"It's what I've feared," Sabrina replied. "He's become even more powerful."

Giovanni began to laugh. "No one would know better than you," he chuckled.

Sabrina suddenly began to feel totally weak inside, as if someone was reaching right into her. She began to shake and lose her balance. As she fell over, Will grabbed her.

"What are you doing to her?" Will asked.

Giovanni laughed harder than ever. "You want to find out, boy?" he asked Will.

"Yeah, sure!" the overanxious Will replied. "If you're going to attack anyone, you attack the man here, not the woman!"

"No, Will…" Sabrina mumbled.

Giovanni continued laughing. "That's right," he said. "You better protect that boy, because I'd kill him with that same attack."

"What is it?" Will asked. "Tell me!"

"Fine, then," Giovanni responded. "I've just reached into Sabrina's mind. I'm pulling out her most inner fears and worst memories… a psychic's worst nightmare. Now that's all she can think of, the very things that hurt her the most. Memories like going too far with her psychic training! Hurting her own parents! Destroying her own house! Losing her own emotions!"

Will saw Sabrina becoming weaker and weaker. He reached for Sabrina's Poké Balls, throwing them out. The Pokémon wasted no time in attacking Giovanni, who had to let up on his attack on Sabrina in order to defend himself. As they attacked him, Sabrina fainted.

"Kill him, Mewtwo!" Will yelled. "Just kill him!"

Liza sent out her Lunatone as well, having it attack Giovanni. Giovanni continued to hold himself together by creating barrier after barrier around himself, barely keeping him safe from the attacks of the Pokémon. Will then started sending out his Pokémon at Giovanni as well, having them all attack him at once.

"You are such idiots!" Giovanni screamed, struggling to protect himself. "You will all pay!"

"I think you're the one who's about to pay," Will replied. "Keep on attacking him!"

Jenny was lying on the ground, having a hard time withstanding all the attacks. She looked up, and gasped. MechaMew2 had come out of its back room.

"No, boss…" she mumbled, right before MechaMew2 sent an amazing psychic blast through the room. It killed Jenny, while sending Will, Liza and the fainted Sabrina flying. The Pokémon had to let up on their attacks and defend themselves from the attack. MechaMew2 let up on his attack, allowing Giovanni to break his barriers and stand up.

The boss of Team Rocket began laughing. "This is where it all ends for you," he told a dazed Will, walking over to him, about to attack him with all his power.

----------

Holding Falkner's body in one arm, Janine pushed open the door to the Cherrygrove Medical Clinic, an extremely small house that served as a doctor's office, hospital and emergency room all in one, for the few residents of Cherrygrove City. It had one bed, two doctors and a nurse.

"This boy needs medical treatment now!" she screamed.

"We're sorry," a Nurse Joy told her. "We have another patient here who are being taken care of right now."

Janine held out a shuriken to Nurse Joy's throat.

"Listen, if he dies, you die, and so does everyone else here," Janine angrily told Nurse Joy. "He's badly poisoned, and half his body is bleeding. You have to help him."

"Now that you mention it, we seem to have an open bed," Nurse Joy replied, as the patient got up from his bed and ran out of the building.

Janine carried Falkner over to the bed. "I'll be back the same time tomorrow," she said. "If he's not alive, I'm killing every single one of you."

Nurse Joy gulped. "Don't worry, we're the best in the business!" she exclaimed, trying to smile.

"I certainly hope so," Janine replied. She then exited the house, leaving the people in the clinic in confusion.

"Isn't this the boy who was just here?" a doctor asked.

"Yeah, the crazy one," another doctor responded. "He's a gym leader who was so depressed, I don't know why we let him out of here. He probably tried to kill himself."

Nurse Joy looked at his wounds closer. "Are you sure?" she asked.

The doctors looked at what Nurse Joy was pointing at. They then noticed the same thing.

"His wounds look like they were caused by that weapon that girl had," the first doctor said.

"But that's ridiculous!" the other doctor replied. "Why would she try to kill this kid and then bring him here for treatment? Is she trying to avoid murder charges or something? It doesn't make sense."

"Maybe she's just as crazy as him," the first doctor remarked.

The three then began to work on trying to save Falkner's life, although none of them thought it to be possible.

----------

Janine ran through the woods, clearly on a mission. She seemed to be looking for something in particular.

_He's going to make it,_ she thought. _I sucked most of the poison right off his lips._

Of course, the poison had gone into her body, but she was not worried about that. If a kunoichi could not survive this, then she deserved to die. She knew exactly what to look for: a Paras.

She knew that the mushrooms of a Paras were of great use for healing from poison. All she needed to do was find one, and find one she did.

_Perfect_, she thought. _You're mine!_

She threw an Ultra Ball at the Paras. After a few seconds, the Pokémon was caught. She then picked up the Ultra Ball, letting the Pokémon out.

"I need your help," she told the Paras.

She broke off the mushrooms off the back of the Paras and ate them. She then returned the Paras to its Ultra Ball.

_It will grow them back over time,_ she thought. _It doesn't need those mushrooms if it isn't battling, so it'll be fine._

She paused suddenly to think about what she just said in her mind. Was she really trying to reason something out morally? What did it matter to her whether the Paras lived or died? Wasn't the point of her life now just to take out Team Rocket?

No, not anymore. Now she had a new purpose. It was the boy of great remorse- Falkner. He was what meant something to her. He was the only person who could understand her struggles. If she could help him restore his life and please his father, then perhaps she would be doing what would please her own father.

But what if he did die? Then, she figured, there was nothing left for her but to go down in a blaze of glory, killing Giovanni and Silver, and dying herself. She tried to squeeze that thought out from her mind, but it kept haunting her. Suddenly, this boy- this boy that she tried to kill- meant the world to her.

----------

Lorelei and Lance flew into Goldenrod City on Lance's Dragonite. They landed, then walked into the city. Lorelei called Giselle on her cell phone.

"Yeah, what do you want?" Giselle answered her phone, seeing that it was Lorelei calling her.

"Are you in Goldenrod? And if so, where?" Lorelei asked.

"Well, Joe and I are here, in fact, and we've been looking for you," Giselle responded. "But after we couldn't find you, we decided to stay at the house of some girl named Whitney."

"The gym leader," Lorelei replied. "Okay, we know where to find her. Thanks."

Lorelei hung up, leaving Giselle a little confused.

"How do they… oh, right," she said, realizing that the Elite Four had maps to all the gym leaders' houses stored on their cell phones, as part of the large amount of information they had at their disposal. Of course, she didn't care much for those; after all, the only part of being Pokémon League Champion she cared about was the glory, not trying to keep the League in order.

A few minutes later, Lorelei and Lance were knocking on Whitney's door.

"Whatever you do," Silver told Whitney, "don't open that door."

"Why not?" Whitney asked.

"Chances are," Silver replied, "it's that crazy ninja who wants to kill me."

Whitney rolled her eyes at Silver's nonsensical suggestion, opening the door to Lorelei and Lance.

"Uh… hello?" Whitney said.

"Oh, that's for me," Giselle declared, walking over to the door with her usual air of arrogance.

"Giselle, we need to talk," Lorelei said sternly.

"About what?" Giselle asked. "A League Champion like me doesn't have much time to talk… I know there's a lot of fans, but I can't greet them all…"

"The Elite Four is split in two!" Lorelei yelled at Giselle, looking furious as ever.

"Oh," Giselle said with a yawn, "is that all?"

As angry as Lorelei was at this moment, Lance was angrier. It was only Lorelei's outstretched arm that was preventing him from running inside the house and attacking Giselle.

"Look, Miss Arrogance," Lorelei stated irately, "Team Rocket's been pulling the strings from the inside all along! Karen and Bruno are traitors!"

"I always knew they were good for nothing," Giselle replied. "What about that Lance? Is he with the Rockets too?"

Of course Giselle said this while looking right at Lance, whose eyes could kill right now. He was ready to send out a Pokémon to attack Giselle, but Lorelei held him back.

"Lance gave into those two at one time, but he turned on them," Lorelei explained. "So he's on our side."

"Well, thanks for telling me," Giselle responded. "See you!"

She began to walk away, leaving Lance fuming, but Whitney walked over to the doorway to meet the two Elites.

"You need somewhere to stay?" she asked. "You can come here and stay at my place for the night. I heard you've had some problems… we here are totally willing to help you."

Meanwhile, Silver rolled his eyes and groaned, Gold mouthed the word "no" over and over again, and Jasmine began to get incredibly nervous.

"Thank you," Lorelei replied. "We need all the help we can get."

Lorelei and Lance came inside the house to stay the night, only hoping that they could return the Pokémon League to order.


	34. Triumph of the Will

Chapter 34

Triumph of the Will

Will gasped as Giovanni reached out his hand, about to send a blast of psychic energy his way. Suddenly, however, Giovanni felt himself being held in place, by some other force. Was it Mewtwo? Or that pesky little girl? No… he knew exactly who it was...

"Don't… touch… him," Sabrina stated, in the sternest of voices.

She was up on her feet, standing right behind Giovanni, with her hands outstretched, as she used her own psychic energy to hold him in place.

"How…?" Giovanni asked.

"All it took was you to let up on your attack, and I regained all my energy," Sabrina replied. "I waited until you forgot about me, though."

She psychically threw Giovanni to the ground, with Will breathing a sigh of relief.

_He's not dead yet, Will_, Sabrina said telepathically to her fiancé. _It'll take a lot more to kill him._

MechaMew2, meanwhile, walked over towards Sabrina, who ignored the robot until it was about to attack her. At that moment, she stretched out her arm and created a psychic barrier to deflect its attack.

_Mewtwo, this way, _Sabrina told her most powerful Pokémon.

_Why just Mewtwo? Why not all of them?_ Will asked.

_The rest of them have a different battle to fight_, Sabrina replied.

Will looked confused, as usual, but then he noticed what Sabrina meant. Giovanni was telepathically releasing a bunch of Pokémon from a pile of Poké Balls in the corner of the room. Pokémon such as Nidoking, Sandslash and Persian began to attack the psychics' Pokémon.

"You sure are strong," Giovanni said, slowly getting up. "I thought I had surpassed you, but apparently not… yet."

He pointed his finger at Mewtwo, and MechaMew2 sent an all-out psychic blast at him. Standing several yards away from the robot, Mewtwo replied with its own psychic attack. A large ball of visible energy appeared between the two. The attacks were so strong that the entire building began to shake. Police officers ran out of the building in fear. Parts of the prison started to collapse as the walls and ground shook violently. The other Pokémon were sent flying by the attacks, some getting knocked out. Liza crawled over to Will, holding onto him in fright.

"It looks like MechaMew2 is equal to Mewtwo," Giovanni stated. "This could go on all day… it's fine by me."

He then attempted to attack Sabrina the same way he did before, but this time, he was stopped. Sabrina had found a way to block him from using the same attack.

"Perhaps you still have much to learn about being a psychic," Sabrina told Giovanni. "Never attack the same way twice."

Giovanni let up on his psychic power, realizing Sabrina could not be defeated that way. As he tried to think of how to stop her, she read his mind closely, not allowing him to come up with anything she did not know. At the same time, she began to focus some of her own psychic energy to help Mewtwo, as she hoped to defeat MechaMew2.

"Why do you fight me, Sabrina?" Giovanni asked. "What does it matter to you if this building gets destroyed? Why should you care if I wipe out Johto?"

Sabrina ignored Giovanni's questions, beginning to push more and more psychic power towards MechaMew2.

"Is it for a certain reason?" Giovanni continued. "Yes, maybe that's it… maybe this destruction reminds you of something… of your own past!"

This caused Sabrina to begin to lose her focus. She tried to keep building her power, but awful thoughts kept flashing back to her.

"Of course… that's all it is… you don't want to see your past repeat itself, do you?" Giovanni taunted. "A psychic, who goes out of control, destroying everything in sight… losing her own mind!"

Seeing Sabrina being hurt by Giovanni's words, Will blasted his own psychic power at the Team Rocket boss, only to have it deflected away immediately.

"I'm waiting on killing you," Giovanni told Will. "Apparently it makes Sabrina a little angry when I try to attack you… so I'll just wait until I get her under my control."

Sabrina suddenly pulled Giovanni towards her with her psychic power.

"You want to know what it's like to lose your mind?" Sabrina asked. "This is how."

She started to push Giovanni towards the large ball of energy in between the battling robot and Pokémon. But at the last moment, Giovanni began pulling with his own power, and she floated towards him.

"Sabrina, no!" Will cried.

The battling psychics both went flying into the ball of energy, causing a large explosion of psychic energy in all directions. It not only blew the entire building apart, but both Mewtwo and MechaMew2 disintegrated. Will, Liza and the other Pokémon were all sent flying from the impact. As for Sabrina and Giovanni, both were nowhere to be seen, as night fell upon Olivine City.

----------

It was the next morning, and Janine rushed into the Cherrygrove Medical Clinic. She looked at the two doctors and Nurse Joy, who gave no response to her at first. But then, Nurse Joy was willing to speak.

"He's going to make it," she told Janine with a smile.

Such a rush of joy came to Janine at that moment, like nothing she had felt for a long time. Someone she cared about was not dead, for once. This time she would have only had herself to blame, but maybe- just maybe- her fortunes were turning, for the better.

She walked over to Falkner, and looked down upon him, with a tear appearing in her eye. "Are you… okay?" she asked.

"Janine," Falkner said softly. "You- you saved me?"

"You fool… I was the one who tried to kill you," Janine replied, beginning to cry. "I… I nearly destroyed the only one… the only one who can sympathize with me."

She tried stopping herself from crying, but she couldn't help it. She turned her face away from Falkner, not even able to look at the wounds she had caused.

"In the end," Falkner mumbled, "all that will matter… is that you saved me."

----------

Sabrina woke up the next morning, in her own bed at her mansion. How did she get here? Moreover, what had happened? She remembered being pulled into the ball of energy by Giovanni…

_Amazing,_ Sabrina thought, smiling._ It really worked._

She rushed down the stairs, knowing who was downstairs waiting for her.

"Will!" she shouted, rushing downstairs to meet him.

"Sabrina," Will replied, kissing her. "You don't know how worried Liza and I were about you."

Sabrina looked over at the smiling Liza. "It's good to see you too," she told Liza.

"Will's a bad boy," Liza laughed. "He was in your room while you were sleeping."

"I told you not to tell her!" Will exclaimed.

"You sensed my presence back here, so you came to check on me," Sabrina said.

"But I don't understand," Liza wondered. "How did it all happen?"

"When Giovanni began using his psychic power on me, I did all I could to break free of Giovanni's grip," Sabrina explained. "I tried so hard, but I couldn't escape. He kept thinking of the thoughts that haunted me. But just as I got thrown into the psychic energy, I thought of what truly matters: the present. I made mistakes in the past, but they're gone now. My future is here, in Saffron City, as the daughter of the Saffrons and the future wife of Will. The past doesn't matter anymore. And because of that, I broke free, and teleported here. I must have been knocked out right before I teleported away."

"And speaking of the past, is Giovanni in the past too?" Will asked.

Sabrina focused her mind for a moment. "No," she replied. "I can sense him… but he seems different… weaker."

"We gathered all the Pokémon, except for one," Liza commented.

"Mewtwo was destroyed," Will remarked. "So was that dreadful robot… Mewtwo sacrificed himself in order to stop that thing."

Sabrina sighed. "Mewtwo," she said. "He and I went back quite a ways… our history wasn't great, but eventually, he turned into a powerful ally. He was created for evil, and it turns out that he was destroyed while fighting his replacement. How ironic."

Will then looked at Sabrina seriously. "What matters most, is that you're alive and well," he told her. "But you have to promise me one thing- to never, ever fight Giovanni again. I don't want to risk losing you."

"You don't have to worry about that," Sabrina responded. "I promise you, I won't fight him again. And I really think that I won't have to."

----------

Giovanni woke up, then saw himself surrounded by trees. He knew this place well- the place of his past. It was the Viridian Forest. He wondered what the progress of his plans was… then he then realized what had happened to him, and slammed his fist into the ground.

"Curse that Sabrina!" he screamed.

Sabrina had beaten him in every way possible… she used her weakness against him, and turned it into her strength. And now, he had lost everything he had worked for. All his psychic powers were gone.

"How could this be?" he asked in anguish.

He remembered it- right as he and Sabrina hit the ball of psychic energy, she thought of her triumph over the past, which caused him to think of his defeat of the past. Then she teleported both herself and him to different places, as both were knocked out. But that fact- the fact that she had realized her weaknesses were history- it was equivalent to using his attack against himself, and thus she had managed to reach inside his mind and destroy all its psychic powers. And this all happened in an instant.

_I knew it,_ he thought with a sigh. _I knew that if I was unable to get control of Sabrina's powers, she'd find a way to do something like this to me._

He was not dead, though. No, and as long as he was still alive, the dream of Team Rocket taking over the Pokémon world was still alive. It may be a long journey back, but he was willing to take it. Psychic or not psychic, he wasn't about to let his dream die.


	35. No Reply At All

Chapter 35

No Reply At All

Gold lay in his bed at Whitney's house, feeling greatly depressed. After his mother survived Blaine's bombing of Mahogany Town just several months ago, she may have been killed by the giant Pokémon that invaded the town. He wasn't sure, but the fact that he could not get through to her on the phone was enough to tell him that something went wrong. He knew that there were other problems, like these gigantic Pokémon supposedly hunting down Silver's scent, and something going on at the Pokémon League. Yet all he could think about was his mother, and at this point, he couldn't stand it anymore. So he wiggled his way onto his wheelchair and rolled over to Whitney's room, pounding on the door.

Whitney woke up slowly, yawning. _Probably that stupid Silver… or maybe that arrogant Giselle,_ she thought. "Who is it?" she asked.

"It's me," Gold replied. "I need your help."

Whitney quickly put some clothes on, before opening the door to Gold. "What's the matter?" she asked.

"You know we don't know what's happened to my mother," Gold said to her. "I can't take it anymore. I've got to go find out."

"I'd go with you," Whitney replied, "if I knew a way to get to Mahogany Town in a hurry."

"Maybe we could borrow Jasmine's Skarmory…" Gold commented.

After waking up Jasmine, who obliged to give her Skarmory to the couple, Whitney and Gold were on their way out of the house, when Gold thought of something.

"She is Silver's mother too," he said. "Do you think we should wake up Silver and ask if he wants to come?"

All sorts of thoughts about Silver raced through Whitney's mind, none of them any good. "Uh… I think he wants to sleep," she responded, with the only excuse she could think of.

"Yeah, you're right," Gold replied. "You never want to wake him up early."

So the two boarded Jasmine's Skarmory, flying off towards Mahogany Town.

----------

Janine began trying to help Falkner walk out of the Cherrygrove Medical Clinic. At the same time, she was being screamed at by the two doctors and Nurse Joy.

"He can't leave now! He's still in very bad condition!" the first doctor yelled.

"What are you doing? Do you want to try to kill him… again?" the other doctor shouted.

"Please… you're going to make him worse!" Nurse Joy cried.

All their shouts fell on deaf ears. Janine was insistent on taking Falkner out of the clinic and along with her. Falkner was incredibly confused, but at the moment, the only one he trusted was Janine… even if she had tried to kill him.

"Where… are we going…" he mumbled, still having difficulty speaking.

"A ninja can't give away her secrets," Janine replied.

As the two exited the building, Professor Elm came rushing into the clinic with his wife.

"My wife's leg was broken when we were attacked," he told the doctors. "Please help her."

"Attacked?" the first doctor asked.

"New Bark Town… it's destroyed," Professor Elm replied. "All my assistants were killed in my lab, which was completely demolished. I only survived because my wife forced me to come home, and even our house was torn down."

"By what?" the other doctor asked.

"Haven't you heard? Giant Pokémon invaded our town," the professor responded. "I wish I could have researched them, but…"

"I'm afraid we don't watch television here in Cherrygrove," Nurse Joy commented. "We like to stay removed from the problems of the Pokémon world, and just live to help whoever we can."

----------

Gold and Whitney flew into Mahogany Town, and they could only gasp. The town was completely razed, from top to bottom. Only the materials of demolished buildings remained, and they all lie on the ground in complete destruction. For instance, Gold's former gym was merely a pile of bricks.

Gold rolled himself off Skarmory and went over towards where his house used to be. He found all sorts of destroyed materials, but no sign of his mother. He called out for her, hoping that perhaps she had hidden underground with Sandslash as she had the last time Mahogany Town had been attacked, but he received no response.

He sighed. Maybe she had left the town at the time of the attack. Maybe she survived and then left the destroyed town. Or maybe… maybe…

After calling back Skarmory, Whitney walked over and put her arm around the crying Gold. She had no idea what to say. She had never lost a parent or grandparent (her family lived on Moomoo Farm northwest of Goldenrod), but now Gold had apparently lost his last remaining direct relative.

"It's… it's not fair!" Gold cried. "Why… why her?"

A mysterious figure walked up towards the grieving Gold and his girlfriend. "So… we meet again," the person said. "Time for a rematch."

----------

Silver finally woke up, late as usual. By the time he exited his room, it was 1 pm, and the other trainers were all getting prepared to leave, save for Jasmine, who waited for him.

"What's going on?" Silver asked.

"The others are going to the Pokémon League," Jasmine explained. "They are going to fight off the Elite traitors."

"Okay… what about you?" Silver questioned.

"I'm staying here to wait for Gold and Whitney to return from Mahogany Town… they went to search for your mother," Jasmine answered.

"My mother," Silver mumbled, looking down at the ground sadly. He could only figure that she had been killed, but he hoped against hope that Gold and Whitney would find her.

Meanwhile, Lorelei came up to Jasmine. "Thank Whitney for letting us stay here," she told her. "We wish you the best."

"Same to you," Jasmine responded.

Lance, Lorelei, Giselle and Joe then left, each couple riding a flying Pokémon off towards Indigo Plateau. Jasmine then tried to comfort Silver.

"I only hope she's all right," Silver remarked.

----------

Giovanni had found his way back to Viridian City, where there were very few people walking around. He knew the place very well, as he found a secret passage that only he and Team Rocket members knew about, which took him underneath the Viridian Gym. There he pulled out a key and unlocked the door to the room below.

_Hmmm… it seems those Rockets left this place in good condition after all,_ he thought. _Now let's see what I can do here._

He first went to a PC, where by putting in his information, he was able to find the locations of his Pokémon which he left behind in Olivine City. By simply using the computer, he was able to get those Pokémon to return to their Poké Balls and be transferred into the PC itself. Within seconds, the Poké Balls rolled out of a tube near the machine, and he quickly gathered them.

_I knew hiring that Bill would pay off someday,_ he thought. _He set up an incredibly advanced technological system that allowed me to find my Pokémon from hundreds of miles away, and bring them right to me._

He then searched for the locations of his executives. The computer instantly found all of them.

"Keane, Route 27… east of New Bark Town," he said. "Charmaine, Route 36, west of Violet City. Those two have done well, wiping out those cities."

He then looked at another executive's location.

"Clair, in Goldenrod City?! What's she doing there?" he screamed. "She must have failed me… otherwise she wouldn't be staying in the city that she was supposed to destroy! If she just let the Pokémon go on their own, then they wouldn't have attacked the city all-out, but only have gone after Silver's scent…"

He continued looking at the computer, noticing his final two executives' locations.

"As I thought," he commented. "Good work by them. I think I'll wait here until I get further good news…"

----------

Janine walked with Falkner along a path in the woods, coming to a stop when he screamed in pain.

"You idiot!" she said. "I can't have you giving away our location!"

She placed him on the ground, looking at his wounds, which were still healing.

"You… should have left me…" Falkner mumbled.

Janine did not answer, simply applying ointment to his wounds.

"Why… why am I so important to you…" he continued.

Continuing to ignore him, she tried helping him up to walk, but he was not obliging. So she picked him up and put him on her back.

"You can't carry me…" Falkner said.

"And why not?" Janine asked, beginning to walk along the path again, carrying him with ease.

"How are you so strong… I don't understand…" he mumbled.

"I went through much training," she replied. "I'm much stronger than most people. Now just shut up so you don't give us away."

Falkner weakly smiled. He felt extremely important, as Janine was bringing him along despite the fact that he probably hurt her mission, whatever it was. He only hoped to be able to become stronger in order to help her.

----------

Gold looked up at the mysterious figure, instantly recognizing it as Blaine, the gym leader from Kanto whom he had fought twice before. Blaine was also the man who had bombed Mahogany Town several months ago, in an attempt to kill Gold's mother.

"You… you…" Gold cried. "You were behind this!"

"So I was," Blaine laughed. "Yes, the giant Pokémon did not act on their own. I controlled them, giving them orders to utterly destroy this town. They did their work well. And this time I accomplished what I failed to do before. Your mother is dead, boy."

In fury, Gold rolled his wheelchair towards Blaine, trying to knock him down, but Blaine merely sidestepped the rolling trainer.

"You know, you only get so many chances in life," Blaine continued. "Take yourself, for instance. Your mother survived once, but you never thought she'd have to survive again. So instead of taking the opportunity to protect her, when things began to go wrong, you left her alone, and you weren't there to rescue her when the gigantic Pokémon came along. Of course, maybe you would have been killed along with her… so you may have made the right decision."

Gold tried rolling into Blaine again, who again stepped out of the way.

"Look, boy, you may be wondering, what's an old man like me caring about killing your mother?" Blaine commented. "Well, it's like this: your grandfather was that old man Pryce, founder of this town and later its gym leader. He and I had a long-standing rivalry. He tried convincing the Pokémon League to eliminate my small town from having a gym. He did all he could to ruin me, before eventually joining Team Rocket himself in his later years. He wanted to destroy my future. I guess it's only fair that I end up destroying his future… by killing his daughter!"

Gold continued sobbing, while Whitney stood up to Blaine in an angry mood.

"Well, I hope you're satisfied," Whitney told Blaine. "Because that's the last of the revenge you'll take on Gold's family!"

She sent out her Miltank, which rolled towards Blaine. The fire trainer, however, sent out his Magmar, which breathed fire on Miltank and caused it to go off course.

"Don't think that's all the fight you'll get," Gold said. "Typhlosion, attack that man!"

Typhlosion came roaring out of its Poké Ball, blasting fire towards Blaine. Blaine simply sent out his Charizard, which fought off Typhlosion.

"You too are fools," Blaine remarked. "You do realize I have at my disposal four enormous Pokémon, who could kill you both in one instant?"

"Then why don't you use them?" a furious Gold asked. "Why not just go ahead and kill us?"

"Because I want to beat you… for once," Blaine replied. "After the result of our little match here, I'll destroy you both. And for good measure…"

His Magmar rushed past the rolled-up Miltank and grabbed Whitney. She tried to break free, or even send out another Pokémon, but she could not. Upon seeing this, Gold became even angrier.

"Okay, boy, you're going to have to fight me if you want to save your girlfriend," Blaine said with a laugh. "But of course, no matter the result of our battle, I'll send out the giant Pokémon, and you'll both be dead anyway. But hey, you might as well try to go out a winner, right?"

Gold looked at Blaine with wrath. Never before in his life had he been this angry. There was no holding back now; he had to win this battle, even if it meant killing Blaine. The odds had been stacked up against him in the past, but perhaps never before as much as they were now. That did not matter to him, however; he was intent on winning, regardless.


	36. Things Will Never Be The Same

Chapter 36

Things Will Never Be The Same

Gold sent out his Butterfree and Beedrill to help his Typhlosion. He knew of course that they were at a type disadvantage against Blaine's Fire-types, but what could he do? His other 3 Pokémon were not strong enough to win in such a battle. He had to take a chance.

"Poison that Charizard!" Gold called to his Bug Pokémon.

Butterfree sent poison powder towards Charizard, while Beedrill tried stinging the Fire-type. Not wanting to be poisoned, Charizard tried escaping their attacks, causing a bizarre scene where the battle consisted of the mighty Charizard being chased by two bugs.

"Now, Typhlosion, attack him!" Gold yelled.

"Not so fast," Blaine said, sending out his Ninetales.

Ninetales protected Blaine from Typhlosion's attacks, giving Charizard enough time to escape the poison attacks and blast both bugs with fire, knocking both out simultaneously.

"Miltank, help him!" Whitney called, from Magmar's clutches.

Miltank began rolling towards Ninetales. As it usually went with its attacks, it started out by only slightly hurting Ninetales, but by continuing to roll around and slam into the Fire-type, it was eventually able to knock out Ninetales. However, as it did, Gold's Typhlosion was being weakened greatly by continuous Slash attacks by Charizard.

"This is it!" Blaine shouted, as Charizard slashed Typhlosion one more time, knocking it out. However, as it did, Miltank came rolling into Charizard from behind, and with all the momentum it had stored up by now, it hit Charizard with full force and knocked it out.

"I think that means we win," Gold taunted Blaine, calling back his fainted Pokémon.

"Ha, it took four Pokémon of yours to take out two of mine," Blaine replied. "But now it's over for you. The Pokémon that killed your mother will now kill you!"

He reached for the Master Balls that contained the giant Pokémon, but as he did, Miltank rolled right into him and knocked him over.

"Stupid thing!" he yelled, from the ground. "It shall be the first to die."

He sent out the four giant Pokémon. Whitney looked up in terror at the gigantic Charmeleon, Rhydon, Aggron and Quilava that stood behind the fallen-down Blaine.

"Keep rolling, Miltank!" Gold called.

Miltank rolled towards Magmar, knocking it over, and causing it to lose grip of Whitney, who ran over towards Gold.

"Send out Skarmory!" Gold yelled.

Whitney did so, at the same time recalling Miltank. The two quickly hopped on the steel bird.

"Quick! Get them before they fly away!" Blaine screamed.

Gold then thought of a strategy- a cruel strategy.

"Fly towards Blaine," Gold told Skarmory.

"What are you doing, Gold? No, don't do it!" Whitney screamed in panic.

It was too late. Skarmory flew right towards Blaine, and the giant Pokémon charged toward it.

"Now, up, up and away!" Gold yelled.

The small Skarmory, at least in comparison to the big Pokémon, found a path to the skies, while just missing being batted down by the Rhydon. In the process of trying to get Skarmory, however, the giant Pokémon ran right over Blaine, killing him.

----------

Lorelei, Lance, Giselle and Joe all arrived at Indigo Plateau, just outside the Pokémon League headquarters.

"We have to do whatever it takes to defeat the other two Elites," Lorelei told Giselle and Joe. "Even if it means… killing them."

"Oh, I wouldn't mind that," Giselle replied with a smile. "Those Elites are useless."

Knowing Giselle was referring to _all_ the Elites, Lance became furious at her, again, but knowing the situation, he held his tongue.

"There may be some things you see that surprise you," Lorelei continued. "Don't be shocked by them."

"Like what?" Giselle asked. "You two winning a fight without my help?"

Joe covered his face with his hand, while Lance looked ready to kill Giselle.

"Let's go," Lorelei said, leading the others inside the building.

The four trainers charged inside, looking for Karen and Bruno. They searched up and down through the building, staying together the whole time, but after five minutes of searching, they were still unable to find them.

"Where could they have gone?" Lance asked.

"Maybe you two are just delusional," Giselle suggested.

The trainers then felt the ground begin to shake.

"It's a trap," Lance groaned.

----------

Janine continued to trudge through the forest, with the badly injured Falkner still on her back. She finally stopped to rest for a moment.

"Please, just tell me this," Falkner begged. "Where are we going?"

"You really want to know?" Janine asked, taking out some ointment to treat Falkner's wounds again. "We're going to Goldenrod City."

Falkner looked aghast. "Goldenrod City?!" he shouted. "Why are we sneaking to- owwwwww!"

"That's what you deserve for trying to give us away," Janine said in a low voice, as she put the stinging ointment on him. "Now, listen- the boy I'm after escaped in the direction of Goldenrod City, so my best guess is that he's there. I'm not sure, though."

Falkner sighed. He was being to feel a little stronger, but he still was in bad shape. "Why?" he asked Janine. "Why was it necessary for you to take me out of that place? I could have healed, then you could have come back to get me later."

Janine continued treating his wounds. "If there's one thing I've learned," she replied, "it's that I never again want to lose sight of the ones I love."

This put a happy look on Falkner's face, as Janine put away her treating supplies. "You do know what I'm going to do, right?" she asked him.

"I assume you're going to kill someone," he replied.

"That's right," she said. "There's no other way to avenge my father and aunt's deaths."

Falkner paused, thinking about what Janine had just said. "I wonder…" he suggested, "if there's another way…"

Janine shot Falkner an angry look at his suggestion. "Come on," she told him, picking him up again.

----------

Sabrina sat at the dining room table with Will and Liza, looking quite annoyed. Liza kept on suggesting that the three of them should help the Johto trainers they worked with before, but Sabrina would have none of it.

"Come on, Sabrina," Liza pleaded. "You know those trainers need our help… there's those large Pokémon out there, with the potential to cause lots of trouble."

Sabrina sighed. "Liza, there's a difference between being a psychic and a superhero," she explained. "When the situation has required it, I have helped those in trouble. But if I were to always be trying to rescue anyone in need, I'd never have a life of my own."

"But Sabrina-" Liza said.

"The answer is no," Sabrina cut her off.

Liza pouted. She, like Sabrina and Will, could sense that there were giant Pokémon continuing to be used by Team Rocket for destructive purposes. However, neither Sabrina nor Will was too anxious to put themselves in harm's way, after all that had happened in Olivine City. Both of them were anxious to start making preparations for their wedding, while hoping that the strong trainers such as Giselle and Silver would find a way to defeat Team Rocket.

_What if Team Rocket were to win?_ Liza asked telepathically. _What if they were to take over Johto?_

_You worry too much,_ Sabrina replied. _If that were a possibility, then I'd be able to feel it. I can sense that Giovanni no longer is as powerful, and because of that, his forces are disorganized and ineffective._

_Just trust Sabrina,_ Will added. _Whether you like it or not, she's right most of the time._

Liza hoped Sabrina was right, but she couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she wasn't...

----------

Lorelei, Lance, Giselle and Joe rushed to the doors of the headquarters building in an attempt to exit, stumbling as they did. When they opened them, they saw what they had feared: extremely large Pokémon charging toward the building.

"It only figures they'd attack us," Lance commented.

The four trainers then sent out their Pokémon to fight against the four charging giants, which were a Blastoise, a Quagsire, a Charizard and an Octillery. Attacks such as Blizzard and Surf attacks coming from Lorelei's Jynx and Giselle's Starmie were semi-effective in slowing them down, but not enough to stop them.

"Freeze their feet!" Lorelei called to her Jynx.

As Jynx shot Ice Beams toward the feet of the giant Pokémon, Lance sensed another problem coming their way.

"It's hopeless for you," a voice said from behind Lance.

Lance turned around to see Karen, who shot a ball of dark energy his way, encapsulating him in it.

"Great," Giselle complained. "Now I'm going to have to do more work."

Lorelei turned around from directing her Pokémon. She shot ice beams from her hands toward Karen. Karen counterattacked with her own dark energy, causing ice crystals to fly all over the place.

"Watch out!" Joe called to Giselle, who nearly avoided a blast of fire from the large Charizard.

"Don't worry about me," Giselle replied. "I've got this figured out."

"This is no time for your bragging!" Joe screamed.

Giselle simply ran over to her Starmie and her Raichu and whispered something to them. She then had her Cubone dig a hole in the ground.

"Come on, let's get underground with Cubone!" Giselle told Joe.

"I'll never figure you out," Joe sighed.

The gigantic Pokémon charged full-force toward the building, but just as they were about to crash into it, they found themselves stopped dead in their tracks, unable to move at all.

"What's going on?" Bruno shouted, as he was watching from the side of the building. "Keep going, Pokémon!"

The Pokémon just stood there, struggling to move, but unable to do so. Bruno did not realize that it was the Psychic powers of Giselle's Starmie that were holding them back. Starmie was running out of power, however, unable to hold the attack for very long.

"Three… two… one…" Giselle counted.

An enormous lightning bolt came flying at all the giant Pokémon. Each of them felt the full impact of the electric shock, then they collapsed away from the building, one by one. The electricity also caused Karen to lose her grip on Lance, setting him free from the ball of dark energy. All of the Elite Four were knocked over themselves from the large amount of electricity.

"Good job, Raichu!" Giselle called, crawling out of the hole, with Joe following her.

"Very ironic," a voice said, from behind Giselle.

Giselle looked behind her to see Lt. Surge standing there, calling back all four giant Pokémon.

"How strange that these things ended up getting defeated by my choice of attack, electricity," Lt. Surge commented. "But what do you expect, when the boss gives me four Pokémon weak against such attacks?"

He then walked right past Giselle and the fallen Elite Four, entering the Elite Four headquarters building.

"Stop him!" Lance shouted at Giselle angrily.

"Oh, you didn't tell me that was part of our job," Giselle replied.

Lance then stood up, but found Bruno there to meet him, tackling him to the ground.

"This is going to end badly," Lorelei said to Karen, "one way or another."

She then shot ice beams out of her hands toward Karen, who continued to counterattack with her own dark energy. While Lance fought Bruno and Lorelei battled Karen, Giselle ran with Joe inside the headquarters building after Lt. Surge.

"What?!" Giselle and Joe could hear Lt. Surge scream from a nearby room. "That can't be!"

The two of them followed his voice to a room where Surge was talking on a videophone to a police officer. Surge looked to be in complete shock.

"Did _he_ kill her?" Surge shouted. "Tell me!"

"All we know is that there was a massive battle, and she was killed in the process," the officer replied. "We're sorry to inform-"

Surge shut off the videophone angrily. He then fell to his knees in anguish.

"What's the matter?" Giselle asked Surge. "Did your girlfriend break up with you or something?"

An awkward moment of silence followed. Surge then looked up at Giselle, with tears coming out of his fury-filled eyes.

"She was killed," he cried. "She was killed! By the man I vowed to help!"

He pounded his fist into the ground in frustration.

"I've spent the last two years or so working for him, and in a fit of rage, he killed the only person I cared for!" he screamed, slamming the ground over and over again.

"I'm sorry," Joe said.

"Yeah, you're sorry… well, I'm the most sorry of all! I should have never trusted him!" Surge yelled.

"Um, are we supposed to arrest you or something? Because I'd hate for Lance to find something else to criticize me about…" Giselle commented.

"You can kill me for all I care!" Surge shouted at her.

Meanwhile, as Lorelei continued to fight Karen, Lance breathed fire on Bruno, burning him badly, and causing him to stop battling him. He then ran over to attempt to help Lorelei.

"You're not going to be much help to her," Karen snickered. "Fire melts ice, you know."

"I know," Lance replied. "But perhaps you underestimate the power of our combined attacks!"

He then shot his fire towards Karen's dark energy, canceling it out. At that moment Lorelei blasted her ice toward Karen and froze her in a giant block of ice.

"Sad that it has to end this way," Lorelei told Karen.

She then blasted Bruno with her ice beams, freezing him as well. She then went inside to get security guards to arrest the two traitors, while Lance watched that they did not try to escape the ice.

----------

Gold and Whitney arrived back at Whitney's house, where Jasmine and Silver were waiting. Neither said a word upon entering the front door, but Silver only needed to see Gold's tear-filled face to figure out what had occurred.

"Unbelievable," he muttered, trying to stop himself from crying. "I wish- I wish I knew her."

He then began to cry as well, realizing that his mother had been killed. Jasmine tried to comfort him by putting her arm around him.

_I never knew her,_ Silver thought. _Only a few months ago did I find out that she was even my mother- and that Gold and I are half-brothers. And now, just like that, she's gone._

As he and Gold cried, and their girlfriends attempted to comfort them, they failed to notice a report on the news about the death of Blaine, as well as four large Pokémon that sunk into the Lake of Rage.

----------

Back at Indigo Plateau, security guards held onto the now-unfrozen Bruno and Karen, waiting for police to come and take them to jail. Meanwhile, Lorelei, Lance, Joe and Giselle sat at a table with a repentant Lt. Surge, who was both distraught and furious over the death of his girlfriend Officer Jenny of Olivine City (formerly of Saffron City).

"I'd do anything right now to stop that Giovanni," Surge said. "Trust me, I have no desire to work for him anymore, and you can see that from the fact that I handed over the Poké Balls of those giant Pokémon."

"We believe you," Lorelei replied. "Maybe you can tell us his plans, so then we can stop him."

Surge sighed. "You may not believe this, but the fact is, I don't know his other plans," he explained. "Giovanni is a very secretive man; he wouldn't even give away all his plans to his own executives. He'd only tell us what we need to know for our personal missions. I didn't know what the other executives were doing."

"Do you know how many of them there are?" Lance asked.

"Five, including myself," Surge answered. "Also there are Blaine, Clair, Keane and Charmaine."

"Well, there was a report just a little while ago saying that Blaine had been killed by some giant Pokémon," Joe commented.

"That leaves three, then," Surge responded. "Who knows where to find them, though."

"Could you contact Giovanni?" Lance asked.

"No, because then he'd know something was up," Surge replied. "He always gives us the orders, and we always report back to him. But considering he killed Jenny, there's no telling if he would kill me if I reported back to him- assuming he's still in Olivine City, which I'm not sure of."

The trainers began to ponder the situation, when Giselle pointed out something on the television.

"Hey, this is interesting," she said. "Clair."

"Clair?" Lance asked. "Turn it up."

The television showed Clair in Goldenrod City, speaking with a bunch of reporters.

"I hereby call on all Johto gym leaders to rebel against Team Rocket," Clair announced. "After the destruction of Violet City, it is clear Giovanni's goals do not include even those who turned to him. Bugsy, Morty, Chuck- call for all Rockets to be arrested, and fight against them at all costs. As well, in Blackthorn City, all Rockets there must be arrested immediately."

"I always knew my cousin had a good heart… just persuaded a little easily," Lance commented.

"Like yourself," Lorelei said with a smile, grabbing his hand.

"Well, that leaves two executives," Surge remarked. "We must stop them now, because they most likely have giant Pokémon as well."

"But the problem is guessing where they will strike… we don't have a clue," Lance responded.

The five trainers began to think about what to do next, although not coming to any clear consensus.

----------

Giovanni sat in a chair in his Viridian City hideout, watching televisions, while looking at computer data. He could see that Blaine was dead. He also saw that Clair had turned on him, and more reports were showing those other Johto gym leaders turning on Team Rocket as well. He also noticed that Lt. Surge's indicator on his computer was stopped at Indigo Plateau, but there were no reports of any destruction there. This led him to believe that Surge had been stopped somehow; maybe those Elite Four traitors never followed through for him. Nevertheless, he had two executives remaining, and one ace in the hole. He called both of them, telling them what to do next, then left his hideout, heading west of Viridian City. He had a plan that would blow the top off anyone who would hear of it.


	37. Woke Up This Morning

Chapter 37

Woke Up This Morning

The next morning, Liza woke to see news of Team Rocket grunts all over Johto being arrested, with the Rockets losing their entire foothold in the land. Something about it made her a little upset; it was that Sabrina was right again. Now all that was left to rub it in was…

_I told you so._

Liza looked over to see Sabrina standing in the room with her. "Why do you have to rub it in?" Liza asked.

"Oh, just having a little fun," Sabrina laughed. "What's the use of being psychic if you can't enjoy it?"

"I guess," Liza said. She then thought about Will. "Will's going back to work, right?"

"Yes," Sabrina sighed. "I told him he didn't have to, but he wants to buy me an engagement ring so badly... he's so cute."

The two psychics then continued watching the television, seeing peace restored to Johto.

----------

There was furious knocking on the front door of Whitney's house. Unfortunately for Gold, he was the only one who was awakened by it, while the others slept right through the noise.

_This figures,_ he thought. _The guy with two broken legs gets woke up by the noise, and the three people in this house with perfectly fine legs don't._

So he tried wiggling his way off his bed onto the wheelchair, eventually getting there after some significant struggle. Then he rolled his way to the front door, where knocking was still occurring.

"Where the heck have you been?" he shouted, upon opening the door to Gary and Melody.

"Oh, us?" Gary asked. "Well, you see, I left some stuff behind at the island where we came from, so we went back to get it early one of these mornings. But Melody- she doesn't like that place too much, so we came back here, because I also left some of my stuff here."

"Why so early?!" Gold screamed. "I'm trying to sleep, and you have to come here, wake me up!"

"Sorry," Gary replied. "But anyway, do you think I could go get the stuff I left here?"

"Oh, go ahead," Gold muttered.

Melody rolled her eyes as Gary went to find the things he had left in Whitney's house. _He's so forgetful,_ she thought. _Who knows where else he's forgotten things._

"Okay, I got them!" Gary shouted.

"Good for you," Gold responded in annoyance. He then shut the door behind Gary and Melody as they left the house.

_Now, finally time to get some sleep,_ he thought, as he wheeled back towards his room.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

_Why is Silver's alarm so loud?_ he thought, getting back into his bed.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

_Only Silver could sleep through that,_ he thought. _What a start to this day._

Meanwhile, Gary and Melody flew on Lugia back to Viridian City, to check on his gym. As they came closer to the town, they thought they saw a red-suited man walking through the woods towards the Pokémon League Gate, but they couldn't be certain.

----------

Janine and Falkner sat amidst the trees, as they were in a forest not too far from Goldenrod City. Falkner's wounds were healing, although he still did not feel too strong. He was surprised, however, why Janine continued to rest instead of charging on ahead to her destination.

"Your father… where is he?" Janine asked.

"He went on a journey, to a far-off land, somewhere called Sinnoh, I think," Falkner replied.

"How long ago?" she questioned.

"Probably about three years ago," Falkner responded. "He said he wanted to find all sorts of new Pokémon and train to become a great trainer, then return after five years. He trusted Violet City in my care…"

His words trailed off, as he began to think about what had occurred in Violet City recently.

"I failed him," he said. "Instead of being strong and standing up for what I believed in, I agreed to help Team Rocket, taking this awful shirt. Now my city's gone, my gym destroyed… nothing left from my father. It's all ruined."

He tried keeping himself from crying.

"I understand," Janine remarked. "I, too, was entrusted with a gym. But I fought against my father, right before he died. Then I lost sight of my aunt, allowing her to be killed as well. I still have the gym, but what good is it? I've wasted everything my father gave me."

"Not everything," Falkner replied. "Your ninja skills… did your father teach you them?"

"Yes," Janine sighed. "I only wanted to be like him."

"It's the same with me," Falkner said. "But I made a mistake, and I ruined everything I had worked for. I only wish that my father will forgive me."

Something about that statement struck Janine. _Forgiveness._ Something she had decided to forget…

Her mind flashed back to right before her father's death. She had just fought him, as he took Team Rocket's side. While they fought, Giovanni poisoned him, causing him to die. Yet before he died, there was no anger in any of the words he spoke to her. He told her she fought with honor. Could she still say that she fought with honor?

"Let's go," she told Falkner, trying to fight the thoughts that entered her mind. Falkner, now strong enough to walk, got on his feet and followed her through the forest.

----------

Will began to work at his computer at the Silph Company. He was always faster at his job than anyone else there, as he could always see one step ahead. This allowed him time to go through the files on his computer. This had been useful in the past, when he discovered a couple of devices that Team Rocket had created during their time in charge of the Silph Company.

As he looked through the files, he again found a folder labeled "Rocket." Thinking he was onto something, he opened it up, only to find a bunch of silly photos of Jessie, James and Meowth.

_Boy, are these crazy,_ he thought, seeing some of the most ridiculous costumes he could imagine. _Jessie holding a baseball bat, James with a glove, and Meowth wearing catcher's gear? They really did have too much time on their hands._

He was just about to close the folder, when he saw one last file, a text document labeled "Big Top." Figuring it was some sort of circus act those crazy three former Rocket members put on, he decided to look at it, just for laughs.

But when he read what was in the document, he was definitely not laughing.

----------

That afternoon, Whitney took Gold back to the hospital, to see if he needed any more treatment. There were construction workers attempting to fix the small part of the building that was smashed by the giant Pokémon.

"Boy, I'm glad I got out of here when I did," Gold commented.

A Nurse Joy then met up with the two and told Gold that all he needed to do was stay off his feet for a few more weeks, and his legs should heal soon. Encouraged by the news, the two went back over to Whitney's house.

After a few hours, they went out to dinner with Jasmine and Silver. The four trainers were in a better mood today; despite the terrible news they had received the day before, they knew that they had to move on, so they tried to enjoy themselves.

Meanwhile, Falkner and Janine walked into the city and split up. Falkner was going to buy a new shirt, to replace his "R" shirt, while Janine of course had her own plans. She walked in and out of buildings without anyone noticing. It was almost like she was just a breeze in the wind; she'd come and go within seconds.

She looked for places where Silver might be. The hospital? Too much security… but if necessary, she was willing to try to sneak in there. First, though, she wanted to try other places. She saw the time in one store- 6:16 pm. Just about the time when Silver may be eating.

She checked several restaurants, just looking inside, then leaving quickly, failing to see any sign of Silver. She then saw a small diner, and she decided to check it.

Silver was sitting with his friends in the back, listening to a music player located at the table. That was when Janine tried sneaking in. She could only see Whitney and Gold clearly; Silver had his back turned to her, with a large man named Cueball sitting back-to-back to him, blocking her from being able to see Silver. She did, however, catch the sight of Jasmine's pigtails, and instantly recognized her as the girl who had been with Silver.

Before she could do anything, however, she was interrupted by a hostess who wanted to serve her. This would ruin her attack, if she was to have to be walked to a table; so she told the hostess that she simply came in to use the restroom, and asked where it was.

After being told the location of the restroom, she continued looking over at the table, trying to catch a glimpse of the person sitting next to the girl with pigtails. She walked slowly in the direction of the restroom, then saw a streak of red hair- immediately realizing it was Silver. She began walking away from the restroom and towards Silver's table.

"Ma'am, the restroom is to your right," the hostess called.

Janine did not even hear these words, however. She continued creeping in the direction of Silver and his friends, who were listening to the music, not paying attention to anything else. She walked up closer, and closer, and closer…

Silver sneezed, then turned his head to the side. He saw Janine- but only for an instant.

Then everything went black.

----------

"Sabrina! Sabrina!" Will was yelling on his phone, with a rather annoyed Sabrina on the other end of the line at her house.

"Yes, Will," she replied with irritation.

"There's something of Team Rocket's I found on this computer- something very scary!" he shouted.

"Pictures of Jessie, James and Meowth in various costumes?" Sabrina asked.

"No," Will answered. "It's what Giovanni plans to do if everything goes against him… and it's not pretty."


	38. Prepare For Trouble

Chapter 38

Prepare For Trouble

"Silver… Silver? Silver!"

Jasmine looked at her boyfriend, who had suddenly collapsed on her. She then turned around to see an ongoing battle between an extremely large bald man and someone else who she could not see well. The two people who were wrestling were Cueball and Janine.

"Get off me, you freak!" Janine screamed.

"I saw you attack that boy… you're going to jail!" Cueball yelled.

Janine then managed to slither out of his grasp, and she dashed for the door. The lumbering Cueball chased her, but he tripped halfway to the door.

"Someone catch that girl!" he screamed, seeing Janine rush out of the diner.

"What's the matter?" the hostess asked.

"What's the matter?! She just threw something sharp at that boy behind me, that's what! She may have killed him!" Cueball screamed.

A man behind the register then called for medical assistance. Clearly someone needed it, he figured- either the boy or the bald man himself, as he did not know whether to believe Cueball's story.

Meanwhile, Janine was out of the city in a flash. She was upset that the bald man had stopped her from going all-out and making sure Silver was dead, but she hoped that one attack would be enough. She rushed towards the forest, finding the place where she and Falkner agreed to meet.

Wearing a new shirt, Falkner saw her run towards him, and immediately noticed a look of disappointment on her face.

"What's the matter?" he asked in a whispering voice.

"I attacked him, but I'm not sure I killed him," she whispered. "Come on, let's go."

The two disappeared deep into the forest, where both wondered about the result of Janine's attack, although for different reasons- Janine, hoping Silver was dead, and Falkner, hoping the victim had survived the attack.

----------

Sabrina had teleported to Will's office, as he convinced her that what he was talking about was serious. She took a look at his computer. Even she was shocked.

_This is a plan by Giovanni to cause an eruption at Mt. Silver?_ she asked Will telepathically.

_Apparently,_ Will replied. _This must have been his computer, and a file only he was supposed to see… the instructions aren't very clear, as if he didn't want anyone else even in Team Rocket to know them._

_So he thinks by having Pokémon attack various areas inside the mountain, he can cause it to erupt,_ Sabrina commented.

_I guess so, _Will responded. _But why would he want to do that? Obviously he'd be killed as well._

_Not necessarily,_ Sabrina remarked. _He probably has his own escape route… knowing him, he would have to._

_So what are we supposed to do about this? _Will asked. _Is he even going to do this?_

_I have an idea of how to approach this, _Sabrina answered. _And it's not going to involve us as much as in the past…_

----------

Silver's friends had rushed him to the hospital, hoping to save his life. They now sat in the waiting room, hoping to hear positive news about their friend. The news they heard, however, was none. They just sat there, waiting and waiting. The clock ticked on and on, until it reached midnight. It was all Jasmine could do to keep herself from becoming hysterical.

"Come on, let's go home," a voice said to Jasmine.

Jasmine looked up to see Silver, with his forehead heavily bandaged, but otherwise appearing quite normal. She reached out and grabbed his hand in joy.

"You're alive!" she exclaimed.

"Was there any question?" Silver asked. "Apparently I got knocked out, but there were no injuries to my brain."

A Nurse Joy then came running through a door, coming up to Silver.

"Silver! I told you to stay in your bed! You still need some rest!" she scolded him.

"I can't do that," Silver responded.

"Why not?" Joy asked him. "You don't want to accidentally cause your injury to become worse."

Silver sighed. "It's only a matter of time before that ninja girl attacks me again," he replied. "I'm a sitting duck here in this hospital."

"Our security is very good in this hospital," Joy commented. "We won't let anything happen to you."

Jasmine gave Silver a pleading look, showing him that she wanted him to take Joy's advice.

"Oh, all right," he muttered, following Joy back towards his room.

"Well, that's good news," Whitney remarked.

"Yeah, I was starting to wonder if Silver actually was weak enough to get killed by that attack," Gold commented.

"Silver," Jasmine whispered happily.

The three friends then went back to Whitney's house, hoping that Silver would heal soon.

----------

The next morning, things started out as usual at the Indigo Plateau Headquarters. Giselle was bragging again about how she had rescued everyone, and Lance was hating every minute of it. Lorelei and Joe both sat by watching the two argue, not knowing what to say. The reformed Lt. Surge also watched, still in anger and grief over the death of his girlfriend.

They were suddenly joined by Sabrina and Will, who teleported to them from Saffron City.

"What's the matter?" asked Lorelei.

"Giovanni has another plan," Sabrina answered. "Will discovered it by accident… if he pulls it off, it could have explosive results."


	39. Rewrite

Chapter 39

Rewrite

Sabrina and Will explained the plans they had found with Lorelei, Lance, Giselle, Joe and Lt. Surge. All listened intently except for Giselle, who ignored their conversation for the most part.

"What are you fools all worried about?" she asked. "Is this something else where I'll have to rescue you all?"

This of course drew the annoyance of Lance, as well as Will and Sabrina. "If Giovanni's plan is as complex as we think it is, there's no way one person could stop him alone," Sabrina explained.

"Okay, what is it?" Giselle asked.

Everyone looked at Giselle incredulously. Sabrina and Will had just gone through explaining the entire plan, and she didn't know what it was?

"What are you, stupid?" Lance yelled.

Sabrina sighed. "I guess it won't hurt to go over it again," she said.

She handed Giselle a piece of paper, a printout of what Will had found on his computer.

"Giovanni plans on using having powerful Pokémon unleash their powers inside Mt. Silver," Sabrina started to explain, only to be immediately cut off by Giselle.

"So what? I've heard all about that place. There are lots of powerful Pokémon there, probably using their powers every day!" she snapped, angering Lance and Will even more, while Sabrina tried keeping herself from reacting negatively.

"Giovanni must have sent his grunts into the mountain to find certain portions of it that are prone to react to great pressure," Sabrina explained. "He's marked out those certain parts here."

"React? In what way?" Giselle asked with her usual skeptical attitude. "I'm sure the inside of that mountain has been through lots of pressure, and nothing's happened to it so far."

Sabrina began to get angry. "Listen to me!" she snapped. "Giovanni is a very brilliant man, and I'm sure he knows exactly what he's doing. His plans are very detailed… he's got this all figured out. He figures by having enough Pokémon attack certain parts of the mountain, he can trigger a reaction which causes the mountain to become unstable."

"And after that…?" an unflinching Giselle replied.

"Once the mountain is unstable," Sabrina continued, "he plans on going to the top of it and getting enough of his ground Pokémon to use Fissure and Earthquake attacks. At that point, the mountain has a good chance of erupting, causing enormous damage to most of Johto and some of Kanto."

Giselle looked unfazed. "I don't believe it, not one bit," she said. "First of all, even if he were to do this, why would he? He'd be the first to die."

"We don't understand that yet," Sabrina replied. "But he is very cunning… surely he has thought of an escape route of some sort. None is mentioned in here."

"And, why would he let you know all of these instructions?" Giselle asked. "If he's so smart, why didn't he hide them better?"

"Hey, I searched hard to find those," Will replied, dismissing Giselle's claim. "They weren't easily found. I found them by accident, really."

Sabrina felt something strange about what Giselle mentioned, but she quickly ignored it, figuring nothing Giselle said was of any value.

"Well, you can all go on a wild goose chase, trying to stop a mountain from exploding," Giselle said. "I'm staying here, to admire my Pokémon League championship trophy, and to continue to bask in the glory of being the best Pokémon trainer in the land."

"You go ahead and do that," Lance replied. "Hopefully you'll be the first to get killed if the mountain erupts."

Lorelei looked at Lance in shock over his comment, but Will and Lt. Surge laughed. All of them began to get up, except for Giselle.

"Joe, are you really going with them?" Giselle asked.

"Uh… well… I…" Joe stuttered. It was usually an easy decision for Joe; just follow Giselle wherever she went. But this time, he was truly scared about the plans that were laid out. He knew he had been useful in battling Palkia, and he certainly didn't want to be absent if his help was needed again.

"They don't need your help," Giselle told him. "You'll be safer here than there."

"Oh, all right," Joe muttered, sitting back down.

While Giselle and Joe stayed inside the Pokémon League headquarters building, the other trainers exited it.

"I think we may need more help than just the five of us," Will suggested.

Suddenly, Liza appeared next to Sabrina.

"I'm here!" she exclaimed.

_You couldn't keep your thoughts to yourself… you just had to know what we were doing… _Sabrina said telepathically.

_Oh, of course!_ Liza replied. _I'm strong enough to read your thoughts from far away now!_

"Well, that really helps," Lance said sarcastically. "What about those Johto trainers? Are they willing to help us?"

"They probably would be," Lorelei responded. "We should go to Goldenrod City and ask them."

"You go ahead and do that," Sabrina commented. "Come up you're your best plans with them. Then we'll meet us at Mt. Silver at this time tomorrow, when we'll all figure out a way to stop Giovanni's plan."

"But what if Giovanni goes ahead with his plan today?" Lt. Surge asked.

"Trust me, he won't," Sabrina answered. "I can feel it."

----------

Janine and Falkner rested in the forest, sitting amongst the trees. Janine was still completely intent on killing Giovanni, but even she had to realize that she had no idea where to find him. Falkner had grown frustrated, hoping she would stop her manhunt.

"What is the point?" Falkner asked. "Why keep on searching for this man?"

"To avenge my father's death!" Janine snapped. "That's the reason I live!"

"But..." Falkner sighed. "But-"

"But what?" Janine asked. "You don't have to come along if you don't want to."

"Isn't there a better way?" Falkner asked.

"How's that?" Janine replied.

"I don't know, maybe just in your way of living," Falkner suggested. "Maybe it would please him more if you lived a life that he would live."

Janine looked at Falkner with disgust. "You say that as if you're an expert," she said.

Her words stung Falkner. He of course had miserably failed in that department. He only wished he could change the past. He felt hopeless, however, as if nothing he could possibly do could make up for his past failures.

"I have nothing else," Janine explained.

"Aren't you a gym leader?" Falkner asked.

"Yes, but not a very good one," she replied. "There's no joy in it for me. It's all just a chore. I'd much rather still be training under my father, with him as the gym leader. I wish I could go back and change things, back to the way they used to be."

"Same here," Falkner said. "If only I could have resisted Team Rocket… if only I had not given in… maybe I could have fought back, and maybe Violet City would still stand."

He punched the ground with disgust.

"I make a mistake, and my life is ruined," he stated. "There's no way to make up for it… nothing!"

Janine gave Falkner an angry look for his sudden shout. He looked down in sorrow, thinking about all his mistakes.

"Janine," he managed to say, with a tear in his eye, "don't make a mistake like me. Don't ruin your life by making a decision that could haunt you. I can't fix my mistake, but you can… live for something more than revenge."

"Like what?" Janine snapped. "What else is there to live for?"

Falkner continued staring at the ground, not knowing what to say. "I don't know," he replied. "I wish I knew how to help you."

"There's one way to help myself, and that's to exact my revenge on Giovanni and his son," she declared. "Nothing else will do."

"I wonder if he is still alive," Falkner mused, thinking about Silver. "You say you came close to killing him."

"I didn't get a good enough shot," Janine responded. "He probably survived… he keeps escaping my grasp."

She became angrier even thinking about Silver's survival. "So he… he killed your aunt?" Falkner asked. "What happened?"

Janine's mind flashed back to the incident… she saw Silver standing over her aunt's body. Then she remembered the horror of the moment… and Silver's declaration… _I didn't kill her._

_But he had to have killed her,_ she reasoned. _Who else would have?_

There were those other Team Rocket members, the ones she later slaughtered mercilessly on the S.S. Anne. But Silver just seemed to make sense… he had to have been the one to do it.

"I'm sorry," Falkner said, seeing that Janine was not answering. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

A feeling grabbed Janine, one she had not felt since her hunt for Giovanni and Silver began. It was remorse- if only a tiny bit.

"I don't know if he killed her," she admitted. "I think it was him, though."

Falkner was surprised by her words. He wanted to add something, but she continued to speak.

"Whether he did or not, he was my enemy before that moment, and he remains my enemy," she stated. "He carries on his father's legacy, one I refuse to let survive."

"So, maybe…" Falkner suggested, "maybe… he was innocent?"

"Look, I have no time for questions like that!" she snapped. "I'm killing him no matter what he did there. And that's final!"

She quickly stood up and began walking, with Falkner rushing to follow her.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Back to Goldenrod City," she answered. "I'm finding out if that boy's alive, once and for all. He couldn't have gone far after that injury, if he made it. And you're helping me find out!"

"But-" Falkner protested. Then he thought about it… she was finding out if Silver was alive. And if Silver was still alive, maybe he could find a way to stop her from killing him…

----------

Lance, Lorelei and Lt. Surge flew into Goldenrod City on Lance's Dragonite. They immediately headed for Whitney's house, where Lance and Lorelei had been not too long ago. When they got there, Lance stepped up to the door and knocked on it.

"Hello?" Whitney answered, opening the door.

"It's us again," Lance muttered.

Whitney welcomed the three inside, where they talked to Jasmine, Gold and her about what Sabrina had told them.

"So we are supposed to stop Giovanni from blowing up a mountain?" Gold asked.

"Basically," Lance replied. "I don't really understand the specifics of it, but that's what we must do; otherwise, it could erupt and destroy much of Johto."

"I suppose we have no choice," Whitney commented.

"What about Silver?" Jasmine asked.

"We'll just go get him," Gold responded.

"But isn't he supposed to stay and recover?" Jasmine questioned.

"You know he doesn't just want to sit around while we battle," Gold replied. "I'm sure he'll be fine if he is careful."

So the Johto trainers went over to the Goldenrod Hospital, asking to see Silver. They then began to leave the building with Silver, but were stopped right before exiting.

"Where is that patient going?" a Nurse Joy asked.

"He's coming with us," Whitney answered.

"But he needs to recover," Nurse Joy responded.

"I'll be okay," Silver commented. "If I stay here, I'll be too worried about the safety of Jasmine."

After some arguing, Nurse Joy finally relented and allowed Silver to go with the other trainers. They then met up with Lance, Lorelei and Lt. Surge.

"Okay, we'll fly on Jasmine's Skarmory," Gold said.

The four trainers got on the steel bird, just as Janine and Falkner began to walk into the city.

"Where are we going, again?" Silver asked.

"Mt. Silver!" Lance yelled from his Dragonite, which Lorelei and Lt. Surge had boarded.

Both birds then took off, with Janine noticing Silver on the Skarmory.

"He's alive, all right," she muttered. "They're going to Mt. Silver… we must go there too."

She and Falkner began to walk out of Goldenrod City, taking a hike towards Mt. Silver.


	40. Into The Mountain

Chapter 40

Into The Mountain

The Johto trainers, along with Lance, Lorelei and Lt. Surge, all reached Mt. Silver long before Janine and Falkner. They, however, did not go to the mountain itself, because Sabrina had told them to meet them there tomorrow. Instead, led by Lance and Lorelei, they went to a nearby house.

"What are you bothering me for?" the owner of the house yelled.

"Agatha, we need your help," Lance replied.

Agatha looked annoyed, seeing the group of people standing behind Lance.

"What for?" she asked, stepping aside to allow the rest of the trainers to step inside.

Lance then went on a long explanation on Giovanni's plans and how they hoped to stop them.

"So… you want me to let you stay here for the night?" she asked.

"That is correct," Lance replied, "and while I know there is not much room…"

Already Silver had fallen asleep simply by sitting in a corner of the room, and Gold had fallen asleep in his wheelchair.

"All right, all right," Agatha said. "Just don't expect me to help you on this crazy project of yours. I'm retired, remember?"

"Okay, okay!" Lance responded. "Even though I know you're still a great trainer…"

"No great trainer loses in the first round of the Pokémon League tournament," Agatha commented.

"I'm sure that's not the case…" Lance remarked.

----------

Sabrina, Will and Liza were sitting at the dinner table at Sabrina's house, finishing their meal. Liza was quite anxious over something she knew Sabrina was hiding from her.

"Come on, tell me! I know you're hiding something, Sabrina…" Liza pestered Sabrina.

"Leave her alone," Will commanded. "I'm sure she has a very good reason for hiding it from the both of us… right, Sabrina?"

Will glared over at Sabrina angrily, as he too wanted to know what she was hiding from them. Sabrina finally gave in.

"All right, you forced me into it," she sighed. "Basically, it's that something Giselle said made me wonder."

"Giselle? You don't actually believe any of the garbage that comes out of her mouth?" Will replied incredulously.

"Well, she did have one good point," Sabrina stated.

"What was that?" Will asked.

"She wondered why Giovanni wouldn't hide those instructions better," Sabrina replied.

"But he did! It took me a great deal of looking through there to find those," Will protested.

"Let's remember something: Giovanni thinks ahead," Sabrina commented. "Why would he even have that information available, when he was the only one supposed to have it? Why, when a psychic like me worked for him at one time?"

Will paused to think about it. He then came to a reasonable conclusion.

"You think too much."

Liza laughed while Sabrina shot an angry glare towards Will, who simply smiled back at her.

"All I say is that we must take caution," Sabrina remarked.

----------

The next morning, Sabrina, Will and Liza teleported to the entrance to Mt. Silver, met by the seven trainers who had stayed at Agatha's house.

"Should we all go in at once?" Lorelei asked Sabrina.

"It's better to keep a couple outside here just in case," Sabrina replied. "Whitney, you stay out here with Gold."

"Understood," Whitney said, with Gold not complaining, given that he was in a wheelchair anyway.

"Be careful around any Pokémon you may encounter," Sabrina mentioned. "They may be placed in such a way that defeating them is part of Giovanni's plan."

A few of the trainers looked at Sabrina like she did not know what she was talking about, but did not say anything.

"Let's go," she said.

The seven other trainers followed Sabrina into the mountain. They began to take a few steps inside, not seeing any Pokémon at first. But seconds later, they were startled by the sound of something rolling.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Will stated.

The trainers looked back to see a large Golem, which rolled right in front of the entrance to the mountain, blocking it.

"It's a trap!" Lance yelled.

----------

Keane was standing with Charmaine just outside Victory Road, not a long walk from the Indigo League headquarters, when he received a phone call.

"Yes? It's already time? Good," he said, then ended the call.

"Giovanni confirms that they've fallen into his trap," Keane told Charmaine. "Now the Pokémon League headquarters are ours."

The two marched toward the Indigo League headquarters building, ready to carry out Giovanni's plan.

----------

Outside the mountain, Whitney and Gold were 100 feet or so away from the mountain. They were simply talking to each other, not paying any attention to the mountain itself, or perhaps they would have noticed the entrance to it being closed. They did, however, notice some rustling in the nearby trees, after which they saw two people walk out of the woods: Janine and Falkner.

"Hello, what have we here?" Janine said, noticing the two friends of Silver.

"You- you're the girl who attacked Silver!" Whitney exclaimed in fear.

"That is correct," Janine replied. "And now I must request from you his location."

"He's-" Whitney started to say, pointing towards the mountain.

"What are you, stupid?" Gold yelled at Whitney. "Don't give away his location!"

"It's okay," Janine said. "I would have forced the information out of you anyway, so it's better that you just came forward with it. Thank you!"

She walked towards the mountain, with Falkner following her, and Whitney and Gold watching them with worry.

----------

Inside the mountain, Silver and Jasmine had been told to go to a higher level of the mountain, so they did, while Sabrina and Will explored the ground level. At the same time, Lance and Lorelei were using their Pokémon's attacks to try to get the Golems to move out of the way, while Lt. Surge watched to make sure no Pokémon came out to attack them as they did.

"Ice Beam!" Lorelei shouted to her Lapras.

This Ice Beam was finally enough to get the Golems to move out of the way. But as they did, Falkner and Janine walked right into the mountain.

"What are you doing here?" Lance asked, recognizing them as gym leaders.

"We're, uh, against Team Rocket," Falkner said, not knowing what to say, while Janine completely ignored Lance.

"So you're going to help us stop their plan?" Lt. Surge asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Falkner responded.

"What do you mean, you guess?" Lance asked. "You're coming with us… we have some questioning to do."

Lt. Surge grabbed Falkner, but Janine escaped in a flash. Lorelei and Lance then followed Lt. Surge outside, where they planned on questioning the suspicious Falkner.

_Janine…_ Falkner thought. _Please… don't do anything that would bring harm to your father's legacy…_


	41. Giants In The Land

Chapter 41

Giants In The Land

Keane and Charmaine walked up to the front doors of the headquarters building, met by two security guards who instantly recognized the R's on their shirts. They had no time to react, however, as a Psychic attack from an Abra that Charmaine was holding knocked them both of them over in an instant.

"Now we just find their control room," Keane whispered to Charmaine.

The two continued walking into the building, then found the control room. But as they were about to walk in, they noticed Giselle sitting there, bragging about something to the bored-looking Joe.

"What? Giovanni told us they were all out of here!" Charmaine whispered to Keane.

"He wanted us to take over the controls… we can't do that with them here… we'll just have to lure them outside," Keane replied.

Keane and Charmaine walked into the control room, where Giselle continued to brag to Joe.

"Um, Giselle?" Joe said. "Look behind you."

Giselle turned around to see the two Team Rocket members, who themselves turned and ran out of the room. She then nonchalantly turned back to Joe.

"Aren't you going to chase them?" Joe asked in disbelief at Giselle's reaction.

"It seems I scared them just by looking at them," Giselle replied. "Nothing to worry about."

"But, but-"

"They probably want us to follow them," Giselle added. "No reason to waste time on them."

Keane and Charmaine were surprised that they were not being chased.

"I thought we could easily lure them outside," Keane said. "I guess we're going to have to do this the hard way."

They came back inside the control room, right as Giselle was about to begin her bragging again.

"Oh, it's you again?" Giselle remarked. "Please tell me, what do you want?"

"We're here to-" Keane began to say.

"Don't give away our mission!" Charmaine yelled at Keane.

"But she's going to find out anyway!" Keane shouted back.

"That doesn't matter!" Charmaine argued.

As the two continued to argue with each other, Giselle went back to boasting to Joe.

"Hey, don't ignore us!" Charmaine yelled at Giselle. "We might as well tell you- whether you like it or not, we're taking over these headquarters!"

Giselle yawned. "Again?" she asked. "Boy, am I getting sick of battling those of your kind."

"We have two choices for you: either exit the building without fighting, or face our wrath," Keane told her.

"Let's see… I don't really feel like taking a walk outside right now… I think I'll just have to force you two to leave," Giselle said. She pulled out some of her Poké Balls, about to release her Pokémon for battling.

"Abra," Charmaine said.

Abra blinked its eyes, and the four trainers were teleported outside the building, onto the patch of land where Giselle had helped Lance and Lorelei defeat Karen and Bruno.

"What was that for?" Joe asked.

"We didn't want to destroy our new headquarters in the process of defeating you, so we decided to take this outside," Keane answered. "Now, prepare for trouble!"

"Since when did we become those nitwits Jessie and James?" Charmaine asked. "Just go!"

Both Keane and Charmaine sent out a bunch of their Pokémon… their giant Pokémon, that is. Joe looked amazed at the large number of giant Pokémon surrounding them… he counted 16.

"Giselle… um… uh…" he stuttered, not knowing what to say, in a state of panic.

"Relax, Joe," Giselle told her boyfriend. "This should just be more fun this way."

She sent out all her Pokémon, and Joe did as well. The first thing Giselle did was have her Starmie create a psychic barrier around herself and Joe to protect them from the attacks. Then having her Graveler and Cubone use Earthquake attacks, several of the giant Pokémon tripped, in the process bringing down others.

"This is a cinch, Joe!" Giselle exclaimed.

At that moment, however, Giselle was teleported over to right next to Keane and Charmaine. She found herself unable to move.

"What's going on?" she yelled.

"Our Abra teleported you out of your barrier and now has a psychic grip on you," Charmaine explained. "It's not strong enough to get two people out of a psychic barrier at once, but you will do."

"Hey, boy!" Keane shouted over to the frightened Joe. "Surrender, and we'll allow your girlfriend to live!"

Joe showed no hesitation. "I surrender! I surrender!" he yelled.

"No, Joe!" Giselle shouted. "Allow the Pokémon to fight… they'll pull it out!"

Joe looked at Giselle as if she was insane. The giant Pokémon were knocking over his Pokémon with ease, and even Giselle's Pokémon began to struggle. Only one of his Pokémon remained: his Bellsprout.

"Bellsprout, watch out!" Joe screamed, as a giant Blastoise was charging towards it, wanting to stomp on it.

However, Bellsprout did not flinch. It had felt encouraged by Giselle's words, so it stood up to Blastoise. All of a sudden, it evolved into a Weepinbell!

"Weepinbell?" Joe asked. "Wow!"

Weepinbell then took in sunlight, and blasted a Solarbeam attack at Blastoise. It was a very powerful attack, given that Weepinbell was now stronger than Bellsprout, and also that it was very sunny. Blastoise fell back and dropped to the ground, taking out two of its colleagues in the process.

"Keep shaking the ground!" Giselle called to her Graveler. "And Cubone- you know what to do!"

Cubone began jumping into holes in the ground, then jumping out of other places, clubbing the giant Pokémon's legs, trying to get them to trip. Along with the Earthquake, which Cubone was unaffected by, the attacks managed to get 12 of the Pokémon to fall, but 4 remained.

"Keep it up!" Giselle called.

Joe began to gain some confidence as well, sending his Weepinbell to attack a giant Quagsire. Weepinbell took it out in an instant with a Solarbeam attack.

"Good work, Weepinbell!" Joe called.

At the same time, Giselle's Raichu fried a giant Fearow, knocking it out easily. That left two giant Pokémon: a Charizard and a Dragonite.

"Everyone, concentrate your forces on that Dragonite!" Giselle called.

The Dragonite had a hard time trying to fly due to its extreme weight, only hovering a few inches over the ground. This allowed Cubone to jump up and continually club its feet, while Starmie blasted a Hydro Pump attack at it, combined with a Thunder attack from Raichu. Keane and Charmaine looked shocked as they saw Dragonite collapse to the ground.

"Switch to Plan B," Keane said. "We're not going to take over the headquarters… we can't beat those Pokémon. So we escape with the girl."

Keane and Charmaine grabbed the still-frozen Giselle and began to run off with her, going down a hill. Giselle's Pokémon gave chase, but they were slapped away by Charizard's giant wing.

"Giselle, no!" Joe screamed.

He ran out of the protective barrier that Starmie had created for him. Sprinting in Giselle's direction, he was joined by his Weepinbell, who bounced over to him.

"Come on, Weepinbell, let's catch them!" Joe told his Pokémon.

Weepinbell sucked Joe into its mouth, then spit him out, sending him flying towards Keane and Charmaine. He landed right on Keane, knocking him over. As Charmaine went to help Keane fight against Joe, Weepinbell sent a Solarbeam shot at Abra, knocking it out, and freeing Giselle from its psychic grasp.

"Good shot," Giselle said. "Now to show these two who's boss… huh?"

Giselle was about to use her own muscles to pull Keane and Charmaine off Joe, but she didn't have to. Cubone was already clubbing the two Team Rocket members over and over again, and Joe was free from their grasp. It had immediately dug into the ground after Charizard's wing attack, and it now was here to help Joe and Giselle.

"Thanks, Cubone," Joe told the Pokémon. "What about that Charizard, though?"

Giselle and Joe looked up the hill to see Charizard falling to the ground, being knocked over by a Hydro Pump from Starmie mixed with a Thunder attack from Raichu. The two had teamed up again to knock out a large Pokémon, and now all 16 large Pokémon lay on the ground, knocked out.

"A piece of cake," Giselle commented.

----------

It was now evening, and Giselle and Joe were eating cake in the Pokémon League headquarters building.

"So what all happened to those giant Pokémon?" Joe asked.

"What are you, stupid?" Giselle replied. "Didn't you see me have them all return to the Poké Balls I took off those two losers?"

"Yeah, but I mean, what after that?" Joe asked.

"Well, when the police officers took those two morons away, they also took their Poké Balls, the ones of all those Pokémon, and even the one of the Abra," Giselle explained.

"Oh, I missed that part," Joe said. "I was busy calling back all of my Pokémon."

"Well, they'll be all right now that we got them all to the Pokémon Center inside this building," Giselle responded.

"Say, I wonder how those trainers are doing at Mt. Silver?" Joe asked.

"Well, they haven't called begging for my help yet," Giselle answered. "So I can't imagine they're having any problems. But don't worry about them, Joe! If we can beat 16 giant Pokémon on our own, I'm sure that they shouldn't experience any problems at all!"

"I'm sure…" a concerned Joe stated, eating his cake, while thinking of what could be going on at Mt. Silver.


	42. Eruption

Chapter 42

Eruption

Sabrina, Will and Liza walked further into the mountain, seeing several angry Pokémon along the way, which Sabrina easily pushed aside with her Alakazam. They continued walking through, trying to find Pokémon attacking the mountain, but they did not find Pokémon doing that. They found Pokémon attacking them, but not actually trying to disrupt the mountain in any way.

Higher up in the mountain, Silver and Jasmine walked slowly upon the rocks, hand-in-hand as they went. They saw a few Pokémon, but each time they met one, Silver's Sneasel was able to knock it out.

"Where are these Pokémon that are supposed to be tearing apart this place?" Silver asked.

"I don't know… I just hope we can figure this out and get out of here," a nervous Jasmine replied.

"Hold on… what's that?" Silver asked, seeing a hole in one of the walls.

He led Jasmine towards the hole, with Sneasel fighting off a few Geodudes along the way.

Outside of the mountain, Lance, Lorelei and Lt. Surge were arguing with Falkner.

"Honestly, this wasn't even my idea to come here!" Falkner yelled.

"Whose was it, then?" Lt. Surge asked. "That girl?"

"Yes, it was!" Falkner replied. "She forced me to come here!"

"Forced you? I have a hard time believing that," Lance said. "What is your real reason for coming here?"

"I'm only here because she is," Falkner explained. "But she- she's here to- to-"

"Spit it out!" Lt. Surge screamed.

"She wants to kill Silver!" Falkner yelled. "And I've tried to stop her- sort of-"

"Get this kid out of here," Lance told Lt. Surge. "He's obviously crazy, or something. Lorelei and I are going back in, and if we see that girl, we're taking her away as well."

"As you wish," Surge replied, grabbing Falkner by the arm and walking him towards Agatha's house.

Lorelei and Lance charged back inside the mountain. Gold and Whitney watched nervously.

"Do you think… we should…" Whitney began to say.

"Let's go!" Gold exclaimed, realizing what Whitney wanted to say.

Whitney wheeled Gold toward the mountain, hoping to do what they could to stop Janine from attacking Silver.

----------

Silver and Jasmine walked through a very thin passageway, high in the mountain, surrounded by rocky walls on each side. After walking down the passageway for a while, Silver began to get impatient.

"Will this ever end?" he questioned.

He continued to walk forward, with Jasmine becoming increasingly nervous. She was too shy to say anything, but she definitely thought they should turn around and go back to where they came from.

"You know what I think?" Silver commented.

"What's that?" Jasmine replied meekly.

"I think I screwed up by walking down this passageway," Silver replied. "Let's turn around."

Jasmine turned around, but in her horror, she saw a Golem rolling down the passageway, heading right toward the two of them.

"Run!" Silver screamed, grabbing her hand.

----------

Sabrina, Will and Liza continued through the mountain, coming all the way to the far end of it, until they were in the exact opposite position as where they came in. Sabrina was now really wondering what they were doing in this monstrous cave.

"Maybe this all was just a trap," Sabrina remarked.

"Wait a minute, Sabrina," Liza said, pointing toward a small crevice in the wall. "What's that?"

"Let's find out," Sabrina responded, leading the other two psychics toward the gap in the wall.

The three walked through the gap, finding what seemed to be a long hallway. At the end of the hallway, they found it to be a dead-end.

"Well, that was a waste of time," Will commented.

Suddenly, part of the wall collapsed, revealing a tiny room resembling a elevator. Sabrina and Will nodded to each other, thinking the same thing.

"Going up," Sabrina said, as the three stepped into the room.

As they expected, the room was really an elevator, which sent them all the way to the top of the mountain.

----------

Silver and Jasmine continued running from the Golem, beginning to gain a little bit on it. They then saw an opening ahead, where they figured they would be able to step aside, away from the rolling Pokémon.

"We're going to get away from this thing," Silver commented.

But then, Silver saw ahead in the distance a female figure… a very familiar one.

"Turn around!" he screamed.

"What?" Jasmine asked in disbelief.

"Go, Totodile!" Silver yelled.

Silver sent out his Totodile at the Golem.

"Surf!" he called to his Totodile.

Totodile used its Surf attack to flood the passageway with water, pushing the Golem backward. Silver then ran with Jasmine in the direction the Golem was being pushed away, hoping to escape from the girl he had seen. They turned down another passageway, causing Janine to lose them in the process, as they continued running through the mountain.

----------

Sabrina, Will and Liza's elevator came to a stop, and they walked down the passageway that they now saw. They then found a room, and they stepped inside it, finding someone who they expected to see: Giovanni.

"I'm glad you could join me," Giovanni told Sabrina.

"What exactly do you plan on doing here?" Sabrina asked Giovanni.

"Oh, nothing much," Giovanni replied. "Just a little redecorating of the mountain… it's going to look different after I'm through with it."

"By causing it to erupt using complicated plans which you left on a computer?" Sabrina asked.

Giovanni began to laugh. "Yes, you three are here because you found those plans, which I knew you'd find," he said. "I wanted you to find them, and I knew with your psychic instincts, you'd find them."

Sabrina glared angrily at Will, who looked embarrassed.

"So now you're here to stop me from pulling off my plan, because I have Pokémon all over the mountain, about to attack different parts of it in order to cause a reaction, right?" Giovanni remarked.

Will nodded his head slowly.

Giovanni laughed. "Yes, I knew it, even psychics like you aren't smart enough to avoid falling into a trap from time to time," he commented. "See, I planted those instructions there in hopes you'd come, with a bunch of your friends, and as I predicted, you did. And while my psychic powers may have been taken away from that violent clash with the Mewtwos, I still have quite a bit of foresight."

Sabrina was upset as ever. How could she have been fooled by Giovanni's trick?

"So, you think I'm going to cause an eruption, right?" Giovanni said. "Or now, do you think that's all just a lie?"

"Just tell us already!" an angry Liza yelled.

"Ha ha ha," Giovanni replied. "Even the little one's a little angry about getting hoodwinked. Well, don't worry, I'll let you know that it is my full intention to blow up this mountain, with all of you still inside it."

He handed Sabrina a small video screen, which showed a large pit of Electrodes.

"See those? They're all right underneath the very land you walked on when entering this mountain," Giovanni explained, to a now-shocked Sabrina. "And all I'll have to do is push a button, and they'll go off, causing an explosion that will… well, let's just say, burn you up."

Sabrina frantically began reaching at Giovanni's pockets, hoping to find the button.

"It's not here," Giovanni said with a smile. "No, it's way off far away, but I assure you, it will work quite well from its remote location in setting off those Electrodes."

"You're not making out of this mountain alive," Sabrina responded.

Giovanni began to laugh again. "Who's going to kill me? You?" he asked. "You don't have the guts to do it!"

"We'll capture you nonetheless," Will said, ready to fight Giovanni.

"Sorry, but you've got something else to worry about," Giovanni replied, taking a few steps backward, then disappearing behind a wall that closed in front of him.

"Where'd he go?" Liza asked.

"That was an elevator he just stepped into," Sabrina answered frustratedly, still holding onto the video screen. "Who knows what he's up to now."

The three psychics felt the mountain begin to shake.

"What's going on?" Will screamed. "I thought he said that the button was located far away!"

Giovanni's face came on the video screen Sabrina was holding. "Didn't you notice, Sabrina?" he said. "This entire mountain is surrounded by a psychic force, confusing your thoughts and stopping you from using your psychic powers to their fullest extent. It's from my personal giant Pokémon, the giant Abra, which teleported underground. It's going to sacrifice itself in the explosion, but it will all be worth it when you're all dead!"

Sabrina threw the screen in frustration. "Lies!" she screamed. "He's been telling us a bunch of lies!"

"Let's just teleport out of here!" Will yelled. But he then tried to teleport, and found that he could not, as the psychic field surrounding the mountain was too strong.

"Come on, we've got to run," Sabrina said, grabbing Will's hand, leading the other two psychics back toward the elevator. However, they found the elevator was no longer functioning thanks to the shaking of the mountain.

"We've got to go the other way!" Liza shouted. The three psychics turned around and began running down the passageway.

----------

Giovanni laughed as he rode the elevator down. "It's going to take a while for this thing to completely explode, but I'll have plenty of time to get out of here," he said to himself.

The elevator opened, whereupon Giovanni found himself face-to-face with someone very familiar to him: his son Silver.

"Silver," Giovanni greeted his son. "Pleased to see you at this time."

"Father?!" Silver yelled. "What are you doing, blowing up this place?"

"Slowly, son, slowly," Giovanni replied. "There's plenty of time for you to join me."

Silver and Jasmine were looking so intently at Giovanni that they did not notice that the Golem had recovered from the Surf attack, and now it was rolling right towards Jasmine!

"We're going to talk about this alone," Giovanni said to Silver.

"Huh?" Silver asked.

SMACK!


	43. Runaway

Chapter 43

Runaway

"I'm sorry, Steely," Jasmine told her Steelix.

Jasmine had sent her Steelix out just in time, to block herself from the oncoming Golem. Golem smacked into Steelix with a violent collision, but the Steel-type Pokémon was barely affected by the impact.

"Thank you," she said to her Pokémon.

Silver was watching Jasmine, glad that she was okay. Suddenly he felt himself grabbed by his father.

"Forget about her!" Giovanni yelled, pulling Silver into the elevator, which quickly closed behind the two, and began to go down to a lower level (as this one was not as affected by the shaking of the mountain).

"Silver!" Jasmine called after her boyfriend. She then noticed that Golem was trying to fight her Steelix. "Finish that thing off!" she cried.

Steelix began tackling Golem with all its might. After a great struggle, Steelix slammed Golem with its Iron Tail, knocking it out.

"Good work, Steely," Jasmine told her Pokémon, having it return to its Poké Ball. She then began walking through the mountain, trying to find her way either entirely out of the mountain, or to where Silver had gone.

----------

"Are you sure you can't teleport?" Liza yelled to Will and Sabrina, as they ran down a passageway.

"Well, I can't," Will replied. "But I'm sure Sabrina probably still can."

Sabrina smiled slightly, knowing Will was right, but knew this was not the time to be rubbing in her superior powers to him. She was more intent on helping the other two psychics find the way out of the mountain.

After quite a bit of running, the psychics found a path that began to lead downward, so they took it, trying to avoid falling rocks and crumbling walls.

"Are you sure Giovanni knows what he's doing?" Will called to Sabrina, who was leading the psychics.

"He always knows what he's doing," she sighed. "I only wish I could plan as far ahead as he does."

The three continued running, getting farther and farther down the mountain, but still quite a bit away from the ground level.

----------

"Get out of here!" Lorelei yelled at Gold and Whitney, seeing how they had entered the mountain.

"I told you it was a trap!" Lance screamed.

Lorelei and Lance led Gold and Whitney towards the exit of the mountain, as rocks rolled in their direction and walls crumbled towards them. They then saw the walls near the exit begin to crumble as well.

"Hurry up!" Lorelei cried to Whitney, who was pushing Gold on his wheelchair.

Lance and Lorelei escaped through the opening in time. Whitney and Gold were a little bit behind, and the wall was just about to collapse.

"Faster!" Gold screamed.

BOOM!

The wall collapsed, with Whitney and Gold just making it outside before it did so. They didn't stop there, however; they followed the running Lorelei and Lance towards Agatha's house.

----------

The elevator door opened, leading Giovanni and Silver to a room, presumably in a corner of the mountain on the ground level. The elevator shut closed behind the two family members, leaving them enclosed in the small room. This room was not shaking as badly as the rest of the mountain, leading Silver to believe it was a safe spot- relatively. However, the only way out of the room was through a door, which Silver found out quickly was locked.

"So, son, it's been a long time since we've talked," Giovanni said to Silver.

"I'm not joining you!" Silver snapped.

"Well, that's a little mean," Giovanni replied, smiling evilly. "I understand your loyalties lie with that girl I saw earlier."

"Jasmine," Silver stated. "She's my girlfriend. I intend on marrying her."

Giovanni began laughing uncontrollably.

"What? What's so funny about marriage?" Silver asked.

"Nothing's funny about marriage," Giovanni responded. "The funny thing is that you think you're going to marry her."

"I am!" Silver exclaimed. "And you can't do anything about it!"

"Silver, my boy, there is another girl for you… one of much more beauty, much more intelligence… the perfect girl for you is the psychic Sabrina!" Giovanni told Silver.

Silver looked at Giovanni in amazement. "Are you serious?" he asked. "She already has a boyfriend."

"Her boyfriend is going to die today," Giovanni replied. "And so will that little girl who's been following her around. Neither of them will be able to escape the mountain, because neither is strong enough to teleport out of it. Sabrina will be able to teleport away, but she'll have to leave them behind. And afterward, she'll be so shaken that I'll be able to get her to return to Team Rocket… where she can marry you!"

"That'll never happen!" Silver shouted. "You're insane!"

"Silver, I am the only one who knows the exit to this place," Giovanni explained. "The only way you'll have the opportunity to escape here- and save your life- is to agree that you will marry Sabrina, and never talk to that other girl again."

"Well, I'll never do that," Silver said.

"Then you'll die," Giovanni replied.

"I'll die for Jasmine if I have to," Silver declared.

"This is a shame," Giovanni remarked. "We could have had a great empire, you and I. Instead, I'm going to have to let my own son die- all for a stupid girl!"

"Father," Silver said. "Why can't you just give up this Team Rocket dream? Why can't you give up a life of evil? Please stop your criminal ways!"

"They are the only thing I care about," Giovanni responded. He then took a key and unlocked the door. Silver tried following Giovanni out the door, but Giovanni shoved him to the ground. He was unable to get up before Giovanni slammed the door and locked it, making Silver stuck in the small room in the mountain, with the walls beginning to crumble.

"There's got to be a way out of here!" Silver yelled, pushing the closed elevator door frantically, as well as pulling at the locked door.

Rocks began to fall down the walls towards Silver, causing him to trip and fall to the ground. Suddenly, one of the walls completely collapsed, landing on Silver with full force. He lay there, with no way of getting up, injured very badly, and with no hope of escaping the crumbling mountain.

----------

Sabrina, Will and Liza continued running through the mountain, which was falling apart at a frantic rate. They had no idea of how to get out of the mountain, but they kept running, hoping they would somehow find an exit. As they ran, Will ran full-force into a wandering girl.

"I'm sorry," Will told the girl, helping her to her feet. It was Jasmine.

"It's okay," Jasmine replied. "Can you help me out of here?"

"You can follow us," Will said. "But truth be told, we don't know how to get out either."

Sabrina began thinking about the situation. She was the only one with enough power to teleport through the barrier produced by the giant Abra Giovanni had mentioned, but she refused to leave her friends behind. Instead, she continued running with them, hoping to find an exit. However, even as they got closer to the ground level of the mountain, they could not see any way of escaping.

BOOM! A large boulder came crashing down only inches away from Will, causing him to scream in fright.

"We're not going to make it!" Liza screamed.

"Just keep running!" Sabrina yelled.

They did so, and they made it to the ground level of the mountain, where they felt the ground shaking beneath their very feet. Jasmine tripped and fell to the ground. Will had to help her to her feet, and then he picked her up and began to carry her.

"Come on, the exit isn't far!" he shouted.

But as they continued to run towards where they remembered the exit being located, they saw that it was completely covered with rocks.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The trainers heard a chain of explosions coming from nearby. Sabrina sent out her Alakazam and Mr. Mime.

"Create a barrier around us," she commanded them.

The Pokémon created a barrier surrounding all four trainers and the two Pokémon themselves, as the entire mountain began to collapse.

"Will it be strong enough?" Liza asked.

"We can only hope," Sabrina replied.

----------

Giovanni walked down a passageway in a hurry. He knew exactly where he was going. All he had to do was go a little farther, and there would be an exit to the mountain which had steel supports, meaning that it should stand up even against the crumbling walls.

"That Silver is worthless," he said out loud. "He cares more about a girl than he does about Team Rocket… he's not worthy to be my son."

"And you're not worthy to be his father," a voice said.

It was Janine. Using her ninja stealth skills, she found a way to get behind him. She grabbed him, with an arm around his waist, and her other hand holding a shuriken, which she held to his neck.

"Your run of terror ends now," she stated, slashing him.

Giovanni's body fell to the ground. Janine wasted no time in running down the same hallway from which he had come, as she figured that must be where Silver was, given that Giovanni had been talking about him.

----------

The mountain began collapsing in a hurry. Sabrina, Will, Liza and Jasmine could only watch and hope that the psychic barrier would hold up.

"Sabrina," Will told her, "just teleport away. You don't need to die with us."

"If there was anyone I would want to die with, it would be with you," Sabrina replied.

That was when a giant portion of the mountain collapsed right on top of the trainers, coming down with an enormous crash.

----------

Janine found the door to the room Silver was in, and by using a shuriken, she was able to pick the lock to the door. She opened it up, finding Silver lying on the ground, bleeding badly, and covered with rocks. Silver could only look up helplessly, knowing that his life was in Janine's hands.

"I'm sorry," Janine told him.

She then began pushing the rocks away, getting them off Silver's body. Once they were all off him, she picked him up and put him on her back.

"Thank you," Silver said, as she carried him back down the hallway from which she had come. She ran past Giovanni's dead body, which Silver noticed as they passed it. He did not feel bad when seeing his father dead, however; he felt at peace over his evil father's death.

Janine then found the exit that Giovanni was going to go through. She escaped through it with Silver and continued running away from the mountain, just as the entire mountain came to a giant collapse, with explosions going off everywhere underneath it, killing the giant Abra that lay beneath.

----------

Hours later, after the explosions had stopped, and Mt. Silver reduced to an enormous pile of rocks, all the other trainers (including Janine and Silver) came over to see if they could find the other four trainers. They had their Pokémon dig through the rocks, hoping they could at least find the bodies of the three psychics and Jasmine, who had presumably been killed in the mountain's collapse.

After a bunch of digging, Lance's Dragonite pulled away a rock that revealed four trainers and two Pokémon, all lying on the ground, motionless.

"No!" Silver cried.

Then they noticed Jasmine begin to move. "Silver?" she asked. "Is that you?"

"Jasmine! You're alive!" Silver shouted.

Will then began to move. "Hey, what's all the noise for? I was having a good nap!" he said.

Liza yawned, getting up. "I think I'm still tired," she stated.

Sabrina was the last to get up. "Good work, Alakazam and Mr. Mime," she said, returning the two Pokémon to their Poké Balls.

"What happened down there?" Whitney asked.

"Sabrina's Pokémon created a barrier to protect us," Liza explained. "Then we fell asleep, waiting for someone to rescue us."

Silver rushed up to Jasmine and kissed her. Then Jasmine looked over and saw Janine watching them.

"Um, Silver?" she asked.

"Janine?" Silver responded. "She saved my life."

Jasmine looked relieved. Janine simply smiled, with Falkner putting his arm around her shoulder.

"You made your father proud," Falkner whispered to her.

"His father hated him… that man didn't deserve to live," Janine replied in a whisper, speaking about Giovanni. "But Silver is a good person, who cares about his girlfriend over Team Rocket… he deserves to live."

The trainers then helped the three psychics and Jasmine out of the giant pile of rocks and walked over to Agatha's house, where they celebrated their victory.


	44. Take Me Home

Chapter 44

Take Me Home

After a night of celebration, the trainers decided to all head to Indigo Plateau, using the flying Pokémon Skarmory and Dragonite, as well as Falkner using a couple of his flying Pokémon to carry himself and Janine. They entered the Pokémon League headquarters, finding Giselle and Joe eating in the control room.

"Hey, no eating in here!" Agatha shouted.

Giselle looked at Agatha surprised. "I thought you were retired," she commented.

"I was, but I'm back," Agatha replied. "After seeing the courage of these trainers here, I feel invigorated. And Lance has allowed me to take one of the positions he says that have opened up."

Giselle gave Lance an annoyed look. "Fine, then," she said. "But in that case, I'll fill the other Elite Four spot with my choice: Joe!"

"Now wait just a minute here!" Lance shouted, with Giselle laughing and Joe looking nervous. But after a little bit of arguing, Lance finally decided to let Joe have the position as the fourth Elite Four member, next to himself, Lorelei and Agatha.

Later in the day, the four Johto friends were sitting in a room in the Pokémon League headquarters, talking to each other, when they were interrupted by a knocking on the door. Whitney opened the door, revealing Janine and Falkner.

"Yes?" Gold asked, with Silver and Jasmine both looking nervous upon the sight of Janine.

"We need to talk," Falkner replied. "Or rather, Janine needs to talk- to Silver."

Silver was really worried about this; what if Janine was to suddenly pull out a weapon and kill him? After all, sure, she had saved him at one moment, but maybe she was waiting to kill him at another time, and perhaps that time was now.

"Don't worry," Falkner said, seeing the way Silver looked at him and Janine. "I'll be right here the whole time."

Jasmine slowly got up, following Gold and Whitney out the door. Falkner then closed the door behind them, creating an awkward silence.

"What… what is it?" Silver asked nervously.

He looked at Janine, who seemed to nervous to speak. It was not what he expected, but at this point, he had no idea what would happen.

"Go ahead," Falkner said to Janine. "Tell him."

"I- I'm sorry," Janine stuttered, with a tear coming down her cheek. "I really am."

Silver paused, seeing Janine break down in tears. He wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say.

"Janine feels terrible because she killed your friend," Falkner said. "She told me she once killed a girl who seemed to be close to you… and although you never did anything to her family, she has done something to yours."

Silver again was silent. He remembered vividly the scene of Blue being killed right in front of him, and all that occurred around that incident.

"All she wants is your forgiveness," Falkner added. "And the assurance that you did not kill her aunt."

Silver then remembered finding Janine's aunt killed, and Janine blaming him for the killing.

"Please!" Janine cried.

"I forgive you," Silver replied. "And I promise you, I was not the one who killed your aunt."

"Thank you," a still-crying Janine responded.

Falkner grabbed Janine's hand. "Let's go," he told her.

Janine took his hand and began to get up, when Silver added, "Is there any way I can help you?"

Janine turned her tear-filled face towards Silver, saying, "Please, just don't take revenge the same way I did."

Silver nodded his head in agreement. This gave Janine a feeling of peace, and she walked with Falkner out the door. Silver's friends were shocked to see Janine crying as they watched her leave the room. They rushed back inside the room to Silver.

"What happened?" Whitney asked.

"She feels a burden of guilt," Silver answered. "I wish there was a way for me to help her… all I can do is forgive her."

"Shouldn't that be enough?" Gold asked.

"Sometimes guilt extends beyond forgiveness," Silver said. "I only hope she can recover and realize that no one holds her past against her."

"There is always forgiveness for those like her who truly seek it," Jasmine commented. "Once she realizes that she is forgiven, she will recover… it just will take time."

----------

Sabrina, Will and Liza were together in another room, preparing something that Sabrina was quite happy about- the invitations to her and Will's wedding.

"Everyone has to be invited," Sabrina said. "Everyone!"

"Where is this even going to be?" Liza asked. "What place could be large enough to hold this many people?"

"We're holding it here, at the Indigo Stadium," Will replied. "That way, many, many people can come."

"Who's going to be your best man, Will?" Liza asked. "And what about you, Sabrina? Who will be your maid of honor?"

"It's going to be Silver and Jasmine," Sabrina responded. "They're a cute couple, and since we've fought with them several times, we thought it would make sense if we gave them those positions."

"Ooh, I'll go tell them now!" Liza exclaimed.

"No, Liza, wait-" Will said, but it was too late. Liza was already out the door, off to find Silver and Jasmine and tell them the news.

"We should know better than to tell Liza those things," Sabrina remarked. "Oh, well."

"Good thing we didn't tell her that Tate is the ring-bearer and she is the flower girl," Will commented. "She might overload with energy."

"We'll wait on that," Sabrina replied with a smile. "Let's see, here, this one's going to the leader of Lavaridge Town's gym, Flannery…"

----------

That night, all those involved in fighting against Team Rocket were called into a meeting room by the President of the Pokémon League, Charles Goodshow. He was there with Professor Oak and Professor Elm, as well as a bunch of citizens from nearby Indigo Plateau.

"I want to personally thank each and every one of you for what you have done for us," Goodshow announced. "I have heard much about your different actions. Giselle and Joe, for defending this building by yourselves. Lorelei and Lance, for defeating the traitorous members of the Elite Four. Agatha, for hosting these others before their fight. Whitney, Gold, Jasmine and Silver, for going all over and fighting Team Rocket in various places. Lt. Surge and Falkner, for turning on Team Rocket and back to good. And Janine, for giving the finishing blow to Team Rocket by killing its leader, Giovanni."

The citizens gave a round of applause to those who Goodshow thanked. Professor Elm then addressed the crowd.

"My lab was destroyed in one attack by Team Rocket, but my wife and I survived, and we are thankful to you all for helping save Johto from further destruction," he said. "Currently, we are working to rebuild New Bark Town, Mahogany Town and Violet City. As this will be the third version of Mahogany Town, it shall be renamed Mahogany-3, in remembrance of its two former destructions."

Several audience members thought they had heard of some other city being named similarly, but no one could say anything before Professor Oak also added some information.

"We have analyzed the giant Pokémon that were used by Team Rocket," he explained. "These Pokémon were made large using some sort of machine that was destroyed in Celadon City. We have now begun using help from Clefairy's Minimize attack in order to transform those Pokémon back to normal."

Goodshow then stepped in again.

"We have contacted several trainers in response to openings in gym leader positions," he announced. "Janine is stepping down as Fuchsia City gym leader, as she tells us she is moving to the new Violet City. The new Fuchsia City gym leader shall be a Pokémon trainer named A.J., who used to run his own gym. Also, at Cinnabar Island, a trainer named Richie is going to take over that gym. Our Elite Four positions shall be filled by Lorelei, Lance, returning member Agatha, and new member Joe!"

The audience members clapped upon hearing this. Professor Oak then stepped in to address the crowd once more.

"Team Rocket is no more," he said, to a great bunch of cheers. "It must be the goal of each and every one of us to prevent there from ever becoming a new Team Rocket. We shall now live in peace!"

More cheers came from this statement. Those who had been recognized by Goodshow all smiled, realizing how their work had paid off in the elimination of the biggest threat to the peace of the Pokémon world. It may have been a lot of work, and they may have suffered many difficulties along the way, but it had paid off in the peace of the lands of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh.

_And in a couple of weeks, the fun begins…_ Will telepathically told Sabrina.

_I'm so excited… I want to be totally prepared…_ Sabrina replied telepathically.

After this, the trainers went back to their different homes, as well as Joe going back to Pokémon Tech to graduate, and Agatha now staying at Indigo Plateau. It was only a matter of two weeks, though, before they would all meet once more… at Sabrina and Will's wedding.


	45. Psychic Esctasy

Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Psychic Ecstasy

The day had finally come: the wedding day of Sabrina and Will. Given Sabrina's parents' wealth, there was no expense spared in making it as elaborate and fancy of a wedding as possible. With the spring weather beautiful as ever, the wedding was ready to be held at Indigo Stadium at Indigo Plateau, with thousands of people invited.

Inside the stadium was a room where Sabrina was with a bunch of other girls, getting prepared. For a rare moment, she was not calm and cool, instead feeling very nervous.

"Are you sure everyone knows the marching order?" she asked Jasmine, who was among several bridesmaids in the room. "And what about Liza? Are you sure she knows what to do?"

Jasmine gave Sabrina a nervous smile. "I think you would be the one to know," she responded.

Sabrina looked around at the other girls, which included Whitney, Giselle, Erika and Misty. "Where's Liza?" she asked nervously.

"Just relax," Whitney replied. "She's getting dressed right now in another room. Everything will be fine."

"I hope so," Sabrina said.

Meanwhile, Will was also getting prepared, but he felt much more relaxed than Sabrina. In a rare case, he was the one with everything under control, instead of her. Perhaps he was a little too relaxed.

"Will? Will?" Silver said, shaking him on the shoulder. "Are you awake?"

"Oh, sorry," Will responded, waking up. "This is taking too long. Would they hurry up and get the ceremony underway?"

"You sure don't seem worried," Silver replied.

"Not at all," Will said, putting his hands behind his head and relaxing. "But I can sense that Sabrina's worrying a lot. I like that."

Silver just shook his head at Will, who seemed to be enjoying the fact that he knew Sabrina was worrying. He did not understand Will's logic, nor did he want to understand. He just walked over to the other males in the room to talk to them, which included Gold, Joe, Brock and Ash. Tate was also with them, and he rushed over to Will to bother him.

"So, how long until the ceremony?" Tate asked Will.

"About thirty minutes… too long, in my opinion," Will answered.

"Are you excited?" Tate asked.

Will nodded, then looked strangely at Tate. "You're just like Liza, asking questions that you already know the answers," he said. "You remember, you have an important job today."

"Oh, I know," Tate responded. "I saw those rings. They look expensive."

Will gave Tate an embarrassed look. "You know I'm not the one who's paying for them," he said.

"So what's your last name going to be?" Tate asked.

"Saffron," Will replied. "I'm taking Sabrina's last name… it's an important name in the Pokémon world."

About a half-hour later, the ceremony was finally set to begin. Indigo Stadium's field was filled with chairs, where many people were sitting. In addition, there were people sitting in the stands of the stadium, due to the overflow of people there, many of them Saffron citizens. Gym leaders and those more familiar to Sabrina and Will sat on the field, closest to the aisle.

The trainers began coming down the aisle, two at a time. Ash and Misty went first, followed by Brock and Erika, Joe and Giselle, a now-healed Gold and Whitney, and Silver and Jasmine. Next came Tate, walking down the aisle with an air of importance, carrying the rings. Will then came walking down the aisle, by himself. All the time, though, Sabrina was panicking.

"Where's Liza? Where's Liza?" she was saying.

Suddenly, Liza teleported in, just in time, and walked down the aisle, scattering flowers. She laughed as she did, knowing she had caused Sabrina a little worry.

"Why, that Liza…" Sabrina muttered.

She had little time to be angry at Liza, though. She watched nervously, holding on to her father.

"Here we go," he said to her.

With "Here Comes the Bride" playing, Sabrina walked with her father down the aisle. She was wearing a beautiful white dress, as well as the traditional wedding veil. Her face was full of tears of happiness, noticeable by everyone who could see her. Her father then let go of her, and she walked over next to Will, grasping his hand.

_I love you,_ they both said telepathically to each other at the same time. This caused them both to laugh out loud.

"Is there a joke I missed?" the judge said with a laugh.

The judge then proceeded with the ceremony, and the two psychics said their vows to each other.

"You may kiss the bride," the judge told Will.

Will then kissed Sabrina on the lips, the most passionate and satisfying kiss of the two psychics' lives.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," the judge announced.

The crowd erupted with cheers, as music played in the background. Sabrina and Will both laughed with joy.

_Ooh, Sabrina, now you're going to have kids with Will, right? _Liza teased her telepathically.

_Shut up, Liza, _Sabrina playfully said back.

At the reception, Lance looked at the gigantic cake with worry.

"What's the matter?" Lorelei asked him.

"You remember what happened at our wedding, don't you?" Lance replied.

Lorelei remembered Giselle's Cubone bursting out of the cake at their wedding and spraying cake at everyone.

"Come on, let's go see the couple," she said, pulling Lance away from the cake.

Sabrina and Will were accepting congratulations from people all over the Pokémon world. First up was Shirona, the Sinnoh League Champion who had helped Liza some time ago.

"Thank you so much," Sabrina told her.

"You're welcome," Shirona replied. "Now where's that Giselle girl at?"

"I'm sure you can find her quite easily, just follow the bragging," Will replied.

Next up was Clair, the Blackthorn City gym leader.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused," she told them.

"Don't worry about it… you weren't the only one who once was part of Team Rocket," Sabrina replied.

Flannery then came up to see the couple, along with Steven and Tabitha.

"Thanks for inviting me," she told Sabrina.

"And who might these be?" Sabrina asked.

"Flannery's boyfriend," Steven replied.

"No, I'm her boyfriend," Tabitha snapped.

"Oh, come on, you left her once, you'll leave her again!" Steven said.

"You just like her for her looks! I like her for her personality!" Tabitha said.

"Oh, I'm sure…" Steven said, as Flannery led away the two arguing trainers.

Wallace and Winona came up to them next.

"We'd like to invite you to our wedding," Wallace told Will and Sabrina.

"It won't be as big as this one, that's for sure," Winona added.

"We'll be glad to attend," Will told them.

Falkner and Janine walked towards them.

"You look really nice," Sabrina told Janine.

"Thank you," Janine replied. "I'm just so glad to be living this new life- in Violet City."

She looked at Falkner lovingly.

"You've done a whole lot for me," she told him. "Thank you."

"I wouldn't still be alive if not for you," he replied.

"But-" Janine said.

"You helped me in a lot more ways than rescuing me physically," Falkner added.

"Make sure to visit us sometime," Will told the two.

"We will… I'll miss Kanto," Janine replied.

The day went on without incident- including no Cubone ruining the wedding cake. There still was Giselle bragging and Joe following along with her, embarrassed. There was still Whitney teasing Gold as they walked around the stadium. And there were Silver and Jasmine, standing all alone, in a quiet place inside the stadium, far away from everyone else.

"Jasmine," Silver told her. "We've gone through a lot together… you name it, we've been through it."

Jasmine looked at him nervously.

"But I think there's one thing we haven't gone through yet," he added.

He then pulled out an engagement ring, causing Jasmine to gasp with surprise.

"Jasmine," Silver asked, "will you marry me?"

Tears were streaming down Jasmine's face. "Yes," she softly replied, before kissing Silver. Finally, the couple who had met each other with Silver at a crossroads in his life was getting engaged. They wasted no time in returning to the festivities and announcing their engagement to all who would listen to them. They even walked over to Sabrina and Will to announce their engagement to them.

"Sabrina and Will, congratulations," Silver told them. "But I think that we may be joining you."

Jasmine then held out her hand with the beautiful ring on it.

"Congratulations yourselves," Will told them.

"Hey, why didn't I ever get a ring like that?" Sabrina teased Will.

"I'm sorry!" Will replied. "If I had the money…"

"It's okay," Sabrina told him. "Money isn't important to me. But you are."

"Oh, Sabrina…" Will told her, before kissing her again.

They certainly had come a long way. From a Team Rocket executive and an Elite Four prospect, to heroes of the Pokémon world multiple times, to the most celebrated husband and wife in the history of Saffron City. They were Will and Sabrina Saffron.


	46. Happy People: Epilogue

Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Happy People (Epilogue)

Several months passed after Sabrina and Will's wedding, and the 2008 Pokémon League Tournament took place, this time including those in the Sinnoh League. All of the gym leaders from each region as well as all of the Elite were invited to the tournament, as well as other trainers who had qualified as well. The trainers were seeded by a committee of Pokémon experts, who attempted to place them in order of their skills. In the 64-trainer tournament, there were four #1 seeds, reserved for the four best trainers; Giselle, Sabrina, Lorelei and Cynthia received them. Will, after stepping down from the Elite Four, found himself ineligible for the tournament, forced to gather eight badges in order to re-enter the tournament in the future.

Those four trainers easily cruised through their first two matches each; as did some who did great last year such as Silver, Jasmine, Flannery and Gary. After defeating Misty in the first round, Liza shocked Lance in the second round with her Solrock, before going down to Joe. Jasmine and Silver each made it into the third round as well, joined by Flannery, Giselle, Lorelei, Sabrina and Cynthia.

Giselle cruised past Flannery and Cynthia defeated Jasmine, each reaching the semifinals. Joe defeated Lorelei in a shocking upset, making to the semifinals. Sabrina battled Silver for the final semifinal match; she ended up coming up just short against him for the second straight year, and Silver advanced to the semifinals against Joe.

Sinnoh Champion Cynthia had taken advantage of her opportunity to go as far as the semifinals, but she was ousted from the tournament by Giselle, who once again reached the championship match. Silver ended up against Joe in the other semifinal match, who had collected several new Pokémon upon his recent graduation from Pokémon Tech. Joe used his new Pokémon to upset Silver in an epic Pokémon battle that lasted nearly four hours.

So improbably, it was Giselle against Joe for the Pokémon League championship. And while Joe was just satisfied with proving that he was a worthy member of the Elite Four, Giselle would not be satisfied without another championship. It was that will of hers that caused Giselle to win her second straight league championship, over Joe, becoming the Indigo League's first repeat champion since Agatha won back-to-back titles in the 1990s.

Contrary to what most people thought, Giselle's head did not explode from arrogance after this latest victory. Instead, the two-time Pokémon League champion found herself humbled when it was revealed that Joe had surpassed all her scores at Pokémon Tech, now considered their best-ever student. She ended up devoting herself to her training more than ever, knowing how Joe was close to surpassing her. She also began to really appreciate the gem of a boyfriend she had in Joe, treating him with much more respect. In return, her relationship with him blossomed… to an eventual marriage two years later.

But the marriage that occurred much sooner than expected was the one between Silver and Jasmine. The two had their wedding ceremony in a small chapel in Olivine City, only inviting those who had become close to them through their journeys- including Janine and Falkner. Janine was happy to see Silver marry Jasmine, as her attitude towards him had become one of great respect. This was mainly because only a week after Sabrina and Will's wedding, Silver took out the time to visit her in the slowly-growing Violet City, and talked out every bit of grief that they both felt from the losses of their parents. By crying with the girl who tried to kill him multiple times, the two became close friends.

The young married couple of Silver and Jasmine moved into Jasmine's house in Olivine City, starting a Pokémon grooming business. And while Jasmine's shy, gentle personality never changed, she became surer of herself and less fearful, as Silver helped her gain emotional strength. He also became much less brash and much more caring, but never losing his sense of humor. His rivalry with Gold was one that continued in Pokémon training, but not in anything personal between them. And by now, Whitney became completely trustful of him, unlike the way she was in the past.

As for Whitney and Gold, they remained a couple, although they did not marry until several years later. They helped in the revival of Mahogany-3, which was a completely different place than the old Mahogany Town; it was a futuristic city with many tall buildings. People from around the Pokémon world moved there, and Gold became a much-visited gym leader. It didn't change Goldenrod City's place as the heart of Johto, however; Whitney was able to make herself a stronger gym leader, and she moved up Johto's gym leader rankings to third place, behind Jasmine and Gold.

Janine and Falkner were also involved in a rebuilding process, as they helped revitalize the formerly destroyed Violet City. They were helped much by Silver and Jasmine as they turned the city back into a thriving one. They ended up making it into a great city, and Janine and Falkner shared a close relationship (and yes, they too ended up marrying in the future).

As for others who had been involved in the fight against Team Rocket at one point or another, there were the various people in Hoenn, such as the couple of Winona and Wallace, who got married in an elegant ceremony in Lilycove City. They were joined by their close friends Flannery and Steven, who became a couple, after Flannery's former boyfriend Tabitha moved away with his friends, Maxie, Archie and Shelly, the three remaining members of the former Team Magma and Aqua. They formed their own Pokémon research group, and used it for good this time. Liza, meanwhile, became the strongest gym leader in Hoenn, and she was moved up to the Elite Four after Drake decided to retire, allowing Tate to run the Mossdeep Gym alone.

There were also the various people in Kanto who were involved at one point or another. Erika ended up starting a relationship with the more mature Brock, while Misty completed her training with Lorelei and returned to her gym, to take over full control from her sisters, where she began actually having serious Pokémon battles at the gym. Lt. Surge returned home to Vermillion City, where he met a different Officer Jenny and started a relationship. And as for Gary and Melody? They continued to take frequent trips to the Shamouti Islands, much to Melody's dismay, although it seemed that she actually secretly enjoyed the trips in a way.

And finally, there was the newly married couple of Will and Sabrina, living in Saffron City. Sabrina continued her job as a gym leader, while Will continued working at Silph Company, moving up the corporate ladder, until he was named vice-president of the company. He helped Silph finally successfully launch the Master Ball project, although these Master Balls could not steal Pokémon the way Team Rocket originally intended. Sabrina continued to be ranked as the best gym leader in Kanto, but she refused to attempt to join the Elite, as she was happy living in Saffron City with Will. They built their own house, which ended up being a second mansion, very similar to Sabrina's parents' home. They lived very happy lives there, and eventually Sabrina gave birth to a daughter, which she and Will named Roxette.

After all their adventures together, things ended up peaceful in the Pokémon world, with everything working out for those who fought off Team Rocket. The Elite Eight ended up as four happy couples, all very successful trainers, and certainly, very good people.


End file.
